"What's all this?" Remus asked as he refilled her coffee.
Fae gestured to the wide array of stapled, paper-back books she'd spread out all over the table along with her notebooks. "Zines!"
"Zines?"
"Like mini art magazines. Aren't they cool?" she said, holding up a zine composed of poems about food accompanied by cut-out magazine photos, all combined together and reproduced via photocopier.
He took the booklet, flipped through it, and set it back into the pile. "Interesting. I didn't know you were into this kind of stuff."
"I like the creative freedom. They're fascinating," she said. Remus shrugged and returned to behind the counter, hopefully to make more coffee cake because Fae had finished off every slice they'd had in the display case already.
Zines were amazing. She'd always thought zines were interesting as heck and had even designed and printed a few runs of her own in her past life. Now that she had Regulus back, it was time to get ready for Phase One of her plan. Oh yes, there were about sixty zines collected from the shops of London all spread out on the table and there was in fact a method to the madness.
She went through and thoroughly inspected each and every single one. She'd also be doing this again probably three times over. After all, it was the height of the zine era and there were hundreds, thousands, of them all over and it gave Fae happy squirms when she found a new one. It was fantastic and there were so many topics and styles. It wasn't just about getting inspired by the design to help her layout her own zine, there was a significant research purpose as well. A few actually.
For starters, she wanted to know what her options in terms of execution were. Most zines were handmade, photocopied, hand bound, and then distributed. Just ordinary, still images, albeit fun and unique and covering every topic under the sun as subtly or bluntly as the creator preferred. But here, there were also magically produced zines. Coming from a graphic design background with a specific love for print materials, she knew a lot about how muggle zines and books were printed.
Magical print on the other hand? A whole different universe. Moving pictures. Color changing paper. Paper that folded itself up and unfolded itself and flew like planes or bloomed like flowers. Materials could be charmed to have lifelike qualities and that gave her a million ideas. It was hard, she'd always been the type to dream too big and overdo it on a project rather than showing restraint. Thus, the research and the notebooks and narrowing down ideas best suited her purposes. Fuck it felt good to go through this process again. To sketch out layouts again. To dream up impossibly complex designs and then work her ass off to execute it flawlessly.
It wasn't just figuring out how she wanted to present her zine either, though. It was about quality of work and finding work. Many of these zines were photocopied, sure, but a good chunk of them were printed at specialty print shops as well and had stamps or little marks to denote them. She wanted one that consistently put out good work, had a variety of capabilities, and would hire a werewolf.
Oh yes, she was job hunting again. It was all part of the plan and at the end of the week, she'd found 30 possible printing shops and companies in London. She picked her top 10, magic-related for now. For what she wanted to do, she'd need some complex machinery, knowledge of how to use it, and fairly open access. That and some really hefty charm work. Sure, she could charm muggle machines to do the same, she was sure, but it would add a lot of work. That and it was illegal to use muggle objects like that.
By the end of the next week, she'd applied to all of them. And they all said no.
"Keeeeennnnnntttt, I need help," Fae whined. Since they had reunited, Fae and Kent had embarked on a whirlwind romance and went on dates three or four times a week. Dinners, lunches, picnics, strolls through the museum, trips to the movies. Half the time, they were talking about what was happening on either side of the war and about their plans. The other half of the time, they really were just spending time together. It was a tad risky on his part, but Fae missed him. Missed hanging out and taking him to scary movies and practicing dueling and playing card games and eating too much chocolate and talking about random shit. She missed his sass.
"That sounds like a personal problem," he said, idly flicking through the racks. Oh yeah, she'd missed that, even when he was being a little bitch to her. And she'd forgotten how similar he was to his brother sometimes. Here they were, perfectly good Friday night to go out and get wrecked, but he would rather browse through obscure, underground thrift stores. It was a creepy place, lots of black lights and neon. Pretty cool.
"Can't you pull some strings and bribe the owner or something? I really wanna work at this one. They have decent machinery, weird hours, interesting weirdos who work there, and a coffee shop across the street."
"No, I will not. First of all, that's too much of a connection for people to find out. We'll get caught if Regulus Black paid some guy under the table to employ Fae Potter," he pointed out.
She frowned. "Ouch. Didn't think about that."
He snorted and inspected a leather jacket carefully, fingering the material before deeming it unworthy and putting it back. "Secondly, you don't want to have a job given to you, you have too much pride for that and want to earn it one way or another."
"Well, you're not wrong," she said laughing. Ooh! Was that a static ball? She started poking at it and then squeaked when it shocked her thoroughly. Never could tell with magic shops.
"And thirdly, you can't do anything too sketchy because you want them to like you and give you keys so you can come and go as you please."
"True…. Wait. Too sketchy?" she asked.
He smirked and held up a dress against her. It was long and black and covered in little diamonds, like stars. He had such good taste, although it was probably a little too long for her. "I know you, Fae. And I know what you're capable of. But it seems like you've forgotten just how far you'd go to get what you want, damn playing fair and square."
She blinked at him. "Huh."
She couldn't possibly. That would take all the fun out of it. It wasn't right. But then again, this was taking far too long and her ideas were practically bursting out of her skull and sketches were only satisfying for so long.
Three days and a highly illegal Imperious curse later, and she had a job. Turns out, she was wrong. It was still fun.
Remus gaped at her over dinner. "You're quitting the diner?"
"That would be correct," she replied, attempting to twirl as much of her pasta as she could onto a single forkful.
"Why? I thought you loved working there?"
Which was true, she had. Even the stressful slammed mornings and always having to fix stuff that the night crew never did right. Especially the skates and the juke box. But she had plans. Fae hummed, let her forkful slide off, and tried twirling again for a more optimal bite. "I do, but ever since I discovered zines, learning how they're made is all I could think about. And then I saw this help wanted sign and I didn't think I'd even get hired, but I had to try."
"You got the job?" he asked, surprise evident on his pretty features.
She grinned. "Yeah! It's awesome, there's this shop a little ways off Diagon Alley that processes photos and all that, but really specializes in custom print jobs for major companies like singing invitations or moving movie posters or advertisement mailers that give sales pitches when you open them. It's super cool. And, get this, they're okay with my lycanthropy," she said in a rush, capitalizing on his shock to hopefully have him believing her little lies.
"Really?" he asked skeptically.
She fixed him with her most confident smirk. "Yeah! I didn't think I'd get it, so I figured I had nothing to lose. Told them flat-out during the first interview and told them what a badass I was and that I'd be a badass employee."
"And that's it?"
"Well."
"What's the catch?"
"Some late night shifts that nobody wanted," she said, pitching her voice to be slightly whiny. "Call-ins. Usually, that's just processing a shit ton of jobs whenever there's a deadline they have to make. I was willing to grab them as long as it didn't coincide with the moon, and that was that. I start Monday!"
She probably should've felt bad lying to him, but she was truly just so excited. And he didn't need to know what she'd done to actually get this job, nor that late-nights didn't exist so much as her sneaking in to use the equipment after hours. Remus could be so fussy sometimes and this was a part of her life that she actually didn't want him to be a part of, which was a strange concept. But it was for the best, of that she was completely sure.
"Monday?" he said, nearly spitting out his drink. "Wow, thats- That's fast."
"I know, but I'm so excited. I've been wanting to do something like this since you were working at Locke & Key."
"Really?"
And at least, this she wasn't lying about. Conversations about a future that didn't involve the war were rare, and nice. It had been a long time since she shared this part of herself with someone. The ambition-driven girl. "Yeah. I love books too, you know. And I loved yearbook. I'm excited to learn more about the industry as a whole, you know? Maybe find a career there one day."
"As what?" he asked.
"A writer," she said.
He thought over and then smiled encouragingly. "Well I suppose you do write an awful lot."
"Yup! And maybe you could be my editor one day."
Thus, Fae became the newest employed weirdo at Pop Prints Plus and her life got ridiculously busy. She had a standard 9 to 5 on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays. On Thursdays and Fridays, she went in at noon and would close up shop at 8. It was perfect.
She got to keep her morning runs with Remus and would usually get home just in time for dinner, with Sirius in tow if he didn't have to work late. Pop Prints wasn't too far from the ministry so she, James, and Sirius were able to meet up for lunch a lot these days. Which was even more perfect as it helped her learn the layout of the building better and allowed her to gain some vitally important documents for her zine. Plus, lunches with her brothers were a blast, especially now that James had a pregnant wife.
"The baby isn't even born yet and I haven't slept in days," James cried to his sandwich.
"Better get used to it," Fae said, stealing a slice of salami from his handful. He wasn't eating and she wasn't about to let good food go to waste.
"And all the cravings!" he said. "Pickles and caramel sauce? Who does that?" Her brother was dark-eyed and half mad. It was adorable and hilarious.
"At least she didn't make you try it?" Sirius said.
"She's so hot and cold too! Either I can't even lay a finger on her for fear of her biting my head off, or she's throwing me against the wall and demanding sex on the spot!"
"Kinkyyyyyy!" Fae sang with a whoop.
James fixed his siblings with a dead stare. "You guys are useless."
Fae snickered. "We'll be more helpful when little Harry is actually born, I'm sure."
"Yeah, probably," Sirius said just as lightly.
"Fuck you guys."
Sirius and Fae laughed before launching a combined effort to steal James' sandwich in its entirety. He curled his arm around it and then took a big, hearty bite, eyeing them challengingly. They eased off and shared a victorious glance. Good, he was eating. He was going to need that energy.
"Okay, but seriously? As his only Aunt, Fae I expect you to spoil him rotten and babysit for free. And Sirius, you will be his Godfather right?" James said a moment later, mouth full and suddenly eating with vigor.
Sirius gaped. "I- wow- are you serious?"
James rolled his eyes. "No, I'm Prongs, you're Sirius. And Harry's Godfather. Alright?"
"Not alright. You obviously meant to say Dogfather."
Fae buried her giggles in her arms. "Oh Merlin, that poor unborn child."
Dinners were as lively as ever, although Fae missed being able to cook with Remus. To make up for it, she decided to take over breakfasts and actually learn how to brew tea properly in the mornings. Tuesday night dinners quickly became her favorites. Peter almost always showed up for dinner and with her new job, they had a blast going through all the fuck-ups and abandoned prints she'd found during the week.
After dinner, Fae went for her evening run. Sweetheart that he was, Remus usually went with her instead of getting right to his freelance work. As for after her evening run, it was usually a toss up. Sometimes she was able to settle down in the living room and hang out, catch up on writing her werewolves or in her journals. Maybe read a book or work on some designs. Other nights, she'd go out with Kent, either to plan or just have some fun and get into some good, old fashioned trouble together. It was too bad Romilly was in Germany. Then, of course, there were assignments from the Order.
On Thursdays and Fridays, she would spend the mornings at Lucrecia's or getting breakfast with Kent. Remus would always drop in at night too, to bring her dinner. She'd offered to just make it ahead of time and take it with her so he didn't have to make the trip, but he always insisted on coming to see her, seeing where she worked, meeting her kooky coworkers. Fresh food was always best anyways, he said. The utter darling.
Until she could close the shop herself and had her own set of keys, Saturdays were still devoted to going out with her brothers, Peter, Lily, and Remus, although it was rare to get all of them in one place these days due to the increasing tension in the war and frequency of missions. Sunday afternoons were a better bet to get everyone together.
Sunday mornings were spent, as always, shopping with Sirius, but Sunday lunches were for family. Those were for bitching about jobs, sharing and celebrating good news, commiserating bad news, and just being all together. Talking about Lily's pregnancy, Peter's new store he was officially in charge of, Remus' latest pastry perfection, Sirius' latest beau, James' close-call, Fae's new boyfriend.
Mondays were her other day off and frankly, Fae tried to spend most of those just for herself if the Order didn't come calling. She loved her busy life. Loved learning how to develop disposable cameras and set up plates and fix the copy machine. Loved spending time with Kent and Remus and all her friends and loved ones. Loved going on daring missions and making a difference in the war, both on the frontlines and behind the scenes.
But she was only human and did need time to herself to breathe. That being said, she always ended up at Lucrecia's for a little while anyways. A good chunk of time on Mondays were spent researching and designing at the library, but the call of sweet things always got her. And Remus always knew she'd show up. Down to the minute, crazily enough. There'd be a fresh pot of her favorite blend ready and a slice of cake, coffee or tiramisu or lemon or whatever she'd been wanting that day, ready at her booth. How he knew what she wanted to eat was a mystery as well.
"Good to see you Fae!" Lucrecia said, always friendly and happy to have her visit.
"Hey Lucrecia! How's it going?"
"Same old, same old, thanks for asking. How are you, dear?"
"Brilliant," she said, tucking into her cake with a big smile. Strawberry today.
Lucrecia gave her that kind of sly, motherly smile that made Fae squirm automatically. "I can tell, you're always smilin' these days. Things going well with the boyfriend, huh?"
"You could say that. Alastor says 'Hi' by the way," Fae shot back teasingly.
The woman snorted cutely and waved her off. "Uh-huh. You better bring that loverboy of your's 'round here sometime, I'd love to meet the one who managed to pin you down. Going on three months now?"
Three months already? Damn, time flies when you're having fun and overthrowing a dark lord. "Yup. I haven't chased him off yet. I think it's a record."
As much as she loved Kent and loved hanging out with him, this was her and Remus' place. She knew that Remus would be unhappy if she brought him here. It was kind of funny actually. He was eerily like Hope when it came to Kent. Polite and smiling, but frosty as heck. They hadn't even actually met yet. She figured he was just jealous of having to share her time with him. When they met, she hoped they'd get along, but had a feeling they probably wouldn't, just like at Hogwarts even if Regulus was in disguise.
Still, Fae was pleased to discover that Remus had, in fact, backed off like she hoped he would. Even if he didn't like sharing Fae, the adorable possessive bastard, he respected that she was in a committed and romantic relationship with someone else.
And Fae kind of missed it, because who wouldn't enjoy sweet gestures and words from someone they were in love with? But she mostly was just so relieved. She loved Remus. Really, truly, still loved him, annoyingly enough. It didn't matter how many times she told herself that it would never happen, that it would never work out. Her stupid heart loved him endlessly anyways. It was just a lot easier to forget that little fact and enjoy having him in her life when he wasn't constantly playing with her hair or holding her or basically clinging to her side and following her like a little puppy, cute as it had been.
She missed being around him so much. She missed going for drives with him or playing hide and hunt in the woods when it wasn't a full moon or getting lost in old bookstores together. Sometimes, it was like a physical ache in her chest. But it was for the best. This was how it was supposed to be. Their lives were so much busier, in the greatest and most satisfying of ways, what with her progress on the war. And besides that, it just made moments like this even better.
Fae watched Remus whip up some cream cheese frosting and grinned when he finished and let her lick the spatula. He rolled his eyes at her cheerfulness and she exaggerated her happy noises and licks. Knowing he loved it just as much as she did, Fae scooped up a gob of the sugary goodness on her finger and held it out for him. Remus laughed and sucked it right off, nibbling a little bit for funsies and making her laugh out loud.
She hadn't felt this happy in a long time.
Two months into her new job, she finally managed to nab a set of keys all to herself to lock up. It had been hell waiting that long to finally create her plates and begin what would be a very long and arduous print run of her zines. Amazing and fun, filled with learning everything she could and planning her print down to the last detail. But now it was go-time and she had a lot of work to do. Tomorrow night would be her first night closing solo and on Friday, she'd have her first late-night 'call-in' for a 'print deadline' and start burning the midnight oil. She'd finally get to design. Print it out, test the charms, make revisions, and repeat a half-dozen times until it was perfect.
Fae was in a brilliant mood and apparated right out of work into their local grocery store, landing on Remus in a tackling hug.
He always went grocery shopping on Wednesdays after he got out of work at 4. By the time Fae got out of work at 5, she sometimes was able to catch him half-way through making dinner. Today, though, she'd been given her keys and the go-ahead to leave a little early. And she wanted to celebrate.
"Fae!" he yelped.
"Remuusssss!" she sang, spinning him around.
He laughed and disentangled himself, picking up a few stray apples they had knocked over, the little goody two-shoes. "What are you doing here?"
"Shopping for a celebration dinner!" Obviously.
He arched an eyebrow. "What are we celebrating?"
"Me officially becoming a key-holder at Pop Prints Plus." She beamed and jingled her new keys proudly.
"Oh? Doesn't that mean they're going to start giving you late night shifts now?" he asked, continuing down the aisles easily.
Fae ran and jumped onto the other end of his cart, holding on as he pushed her backwards. "That's right! I'm so excited."
"Excited. Right," he said, disbelieving that anyone would want graveyard shifts in a weird print shop. But he smiled for her anyways. "Okay, you nutter. Congrats. What do you want for dinner?"
Fae was dancing in her seat as they drove him, singing as loud as she could and enjoying the everloving fuck out of this moment. And then it all came to an abrupt halt when she saw Kent sitting on the porch steps, head bent low and shoulders shaking.
"Did I forget we had a date?" she asked jokingly.
"Fae!"
The second she was out of the car, Kent was up and running to her. His face was wet with tears, expression completely desperate and devastated. She wrapped him up in her arms immediately, all 6 feet and 5 inches of his trembling, sobbing form.
"Kent, babe, what's wrong? What's going on?"
"He's dead. He's dead and I-"
Fae's stomach dropped out. There were extremely few people that Regulus cared about to this extent. And now, there was one less in the world.
Oh fuck.
With a slightly apologetic glance at a very confused-looking Remus, she turned and guided Kent inside and into her room. Kent was sat on her bed while the door was shut, locked, and silenced. Then she turned to him, lifted his chin, and removed his glasses which were all fogged up and wet. The magic lifted and for the first time in more than a year, she truly saw her black-haired, blue-eyed, pale-skinned, beloved friend. He was so much skinnier than she'd last seen him. So much more fragile.
"I'm so sorry Regulus," she said, stepping into the reach of his arms. He buried his face in her stomach and cried.
"I couldn't do anything."
She shushed him and ran her fingers through his hair, over and over. Rubbed his back. And then eventually laid down next to him on her bed, stretching out while he slowly stopped crying and just breathed, numb with grief and merely existing. She hung on tight until he was ready to talk.
Orion had been killed by Voldemort for refusing the Black House as host for his latest prisoners of war. Now that he was dead, Regulus was the head of the Black family and had no choice but to say yes. He'd watched his father be murdered, pretended he felt nothing, and then spent the night letting Death Eaters be carelessly violent with his home and torture endless screams out of their victims. They'd been there for three days before they finally grew tired and killed them off, leaving the bodies for Regulus and Kreacher to deal with.
"We'll avenge him, Regulus. We will get our revenge and make sure neither Voldemort or his Death Eaters ever hurt anybody ever again," she promised him. He nodded and she kissed his forehead. Then tilted his chin up so they could lock eyes.
"Be honest with me, Regulus. Do you need to get out now? Because I can get you out, send you to Romilly until I'm done here," she told him, meaning it 100%. A part of her had always felt guilty and like a coward, as Romilly had called her way back then. To let Regulus risk so much and stay in such a miserable position, all for the sake of her and her plans.
He thought about it, long enough for it to be clear to her that he wanted out. Desperately. "But how would you keep tabs on-"
"I have someone in mind. A bit of a tough sell, maybe, but probably doable. If not, I'll figure something else out," she said. Severus wasn't her favorite choice, but he wasn't unusable. Wherever he was.
Then there was fire and steel in his voice. "No. No, don't bother. My job isn't complete yet."
She arched her eyebrows at him. "Are you sure? We could still have months."
Regulus rarely knew what he wanted, but when he did, there was no changing his mind. "I'm sure. For my father, I will see this through."
And she was so proud of him. And scared for him. And grateful.
She smiled. "You're so brave. Maybe you should've been in Gryffindor with your brother after all," she teased.
"Ha ha."
Then, her smile turned into a sharp, toothy grin. "And speaking of Sirius and of being brave-"
"Oh no," he said, turning pale.
"Is Kent brave enough to meet his girlfriend's family? We've been together for quite a while after all and it'll be suspicious if I don't bring you around."
"Uggghhhh. Do I have to?" he groaned.
She shrugged. "You're grieving. Of course not."
He sighed deeply and then nodded. "Let's do this. If nothing else, it'll distract me for a bit."
"Atta boy." Oh this was going to be good.
"You don't think Remus would poison me, do you?"
"Why would you think that?"
Despite his grief, Regulus, Kent, handled dinner and meeting the family like a champ.
Kent cleaned up in seconds, snapping on a charming smile as they walked into the kitchen, Fae tucked happily under his arm for support. "Hi, you must be Remus," he said, offering his hand.
Remus wiped his hands on his apron and shook it back firmly. "Yeah, and you're….Kyle?"
Fae rolled her eyes while Kent stifled a laugh. "It's Kent actually."
"Oh, right."
And there was that charming smile again, a glint of challenge in his eyes. "I've heard so much about you from Fae, it's great to finally meet you."
"Likewise," Remus said smoothly and Fae shot him a look. He met her gaze and she mouthed 'be nice' to him.
"I hope you don't mind my intruding on dinner?"
"Of course not silly. You're always welcome with me," Fae said, pinching his side and making him jolt.
"Little minx," Kent said, laughing.
Sirius showed up not too long later, easing the tension as his joyful presence always seemed to do.
"It's nice to meet you," Kent said, shaking his hand as well.
Sirius grinned, Fae-like. "You as well! I was wondering when we would finally meet! As far as I can tell from what Fae's told us about you, there's nothing you 'Kent' do."
Fae choked on her drink. But Kent took it in stride. "Are you serious? Oh, wait-"
Dinner actually went great. As expected, Remus wasn't comfortable, open, or particularly kind to Kent like he normally would be for anyone else, but he was conversational, if not a little interrogational, polite, and classy. After that first joke, and then a few pranks with the wine and the garlic bread, Kent and Sirius got on like a house on fire. Kent was smiling so much, probably unbelievably happy to see and talk to his brother again, especially in the face of losing the only other member of his family he loved. When his eyes got suspiciously watery, Fae held his hand and fed him bites of food to distract him, purposely missing so she could lick the sauce off his cheek and make him laugh.
Not wanting to overstay his welcome or fuck up his first impression, he left shortly after dinner and dessert.
"I can't possibly have another bite."
"What? Sure you can, Remus' coffee cake is the best," Fae teased, offering him another forkful and laughing wickedly when he visibly flinched away.
He moved his mouth away and laughed. "It's delicious, no doubt. My compliments to the chef. But if I eat anything else, I'll throw up. I don't know where you put it all," he said, poking her tummy and making her giggle and squirm.
"You're too skinny, you need to eat more," she teased, poking him back.
"You're going to make me fat."
"Let's be real, you'd still be hot if you were fat. More to grab onto," Fae said, cackling as she grabbed a handful of firm ass. Regulus was attractive in a refined, austere way, but Kent was just plain old objectively hot.
He yelped and backed towards the door. "Minx," he said fondly. "Alright, I'm heading out then."
"Okay. Good night Kent. I'll see you tomorrow?"
Then Kent smiled, leaned in, pecked her sweetly on the mouth, and pulled away winking. "You bet. See you."
Fae's mouth dropped open. They had never kissed before. Hugs and arms around each other, sure, but that had been normal for them since Hogwarts. Then again, she supposed it made sense now that they were around her family. Had to make it convincing after all. So Fae grinned, grabbed his hand, and yanked him back. "Uh. Hey! Excuse you! You call that a kiss?"
Kent blushed terribly as she gave him a very proper, thorough, filthy snog. She winked back and then let him go. He huffed and rolled his eyes. She could practically see the thoughts crossing his mind - typical Fae, always has to have the last laugh.
Sirius found out about Orion a week later. There was no funeral. There wasn't even much more than a small article in the back of the paper about it, which made Fae very worried about how much influence Voldemort had over the papers. He took it about as well as can be expected - with heaps of confused feelings, lots of drinking, plenty of tears, and then anger. So like his brother.
But on the bright side, now that Kent had met Sirius and won him over, he was able to come around more often. It was easier to talk plans in the safety of her house. Or at least, her room. And Regulus had renewed his efforts with the death of his father, so he had a lot to talk about. Coming over for dinner and hanging out a night or two a week quickly turned into being invited out on Saturdays and after he'd easily won over James and Lily, it was a natural for him to be invited to Sunday lunches too. And Fae was so thankful that her family was so welcoming - Regulus needed love and joy and happy moments so badly. It would help her keep him alive during these last few months. That, and it was saving her some time, being able to spend time with all her favorite people simultaneously.
Of course, not everything was going so smoothly. There was an unfortunate hiccup in her printing process. After four late-night 'call-ins' or so, she'd finally finished a completed version of her zine that she was happy with - which had been tricky in and of itself. Sometimes, she just got so nitty gritty with details that she was never happy enough to call it good. But nope, this 8-page beautiful booklet of absolute devastation was ready to go.
The charms worked great too. She'd long since reverse-engineered and gotten details about the Marauders Map and was now putting those little tricks to use. A little bit of this and a few little ideas from the millions of magical zines she'd looked over. It had been hard, narrowing down all her ideas into something simple and easy to execute while still having the necessary function and wow factor. However, she'd figured it out and the printers and files were all ready to go. She knew the charms inside and out.
The problem wasn't the design or the printing or the charms. It was sustaining the charms. And yes, she'd ended up revising it and making it simpler, but that hadn't actually made it any better. No matter what she tried, it seemed she was only able to print and charm about half a case per a full night of working which was about 50% slower than she'd planned.
It made her frustrated, the lack of progress and efficiency. So then she started using dates with Kent as an excuse for grabbing second and third nights a week at the print store. If she ran out of energy only printing half a case per night once a week, then she clearly just needed to put in more nights. She hadn't really noticed quite how bad it had gotten until Remus began to vocalize his concerns.
She'd spent Sunday night working late at the print shop, taking advantage of her extra pre-moon energy, and then had spent all of the day of the moon running around as usual. The full moon went great, she was up to five and a half hours now. But after the morning transformation, she'd passed out completely. Hadn't even woken up a little bit on the ground of the woods with Remus to take Romilly's Wonder Shot or walk home to sleep on the couch. Nope, she stayed asleep and woke up on the couch with Remus sitting by her head, reading quietly and petting her hair idly. He'd clearly been awake for a while, damn tea drinker.
"Mmm," she groaned, stretching luxuriously.
"Oh, you're up," Remus said.
"For a little while. I feel like I could still sleep for a day or two. Oof, we really must've floored it last night," Fae said, rubbing at her aching head and collapsing back down on the cushions.
Remus frowned.
"What time is it, anyways? Like 7?" she wondered aloud. It couldn't be too late, she felt like she'd barely slept at all.
"Yeah. It is. 7 in the evening."
"WHAT," Fae shrieked, sitting up sharply. Nope, there it was, the clock clearly said 7 and that was the sun setting. Holy fuck.
Remus sighed and settled his hand on her cheek so he could guide her to look at his concerned face. "Fae, I'm worried about you. These late-nights are clearly not good for you," he began, sounding entirely too much like an intervention.
Fae shook his hand off and gave him a confident, lying smile. "No, it's fine. I promise, I'm fine. Things have just been really busy lately and I'm a little tired."
He was not buying it. Damnit. "A little tired? Fae I've found you passed out on the couch wearing the same clothes from the day before eight times in the past three weeks! You rarely sleep-in past the sunrise and you're never late to anything, and yet I've had to wake you three times now just so you wouldn't be late for work."
She winced. "Oh. Really? That many times?"
"Fae."
"Remus?"
"What's going on?" he asked. And his eyes were so sincere and caring and she'd just woken up so her defenses were down and damnit.
"I… Well… Work has just had a lot of deadlines lately and then the Order has had a lot of assignments too, so then I felt like I wasn't spending enough time with you guys or with Kent and I guess I've just been….spreading myself a little too thin? Maybe?"
"Oh, Fae," he said tiredly.
Well, it was out now. Might as well vent. "I just feel like there's never enough time in the day anymore," she said, sighing deeply and leaning into his shoulder.
She was so tired and yet so little was getting done. It was maddening and upsetting.
He sighed too, and wrapped his arm around her. "I'll say. I can't remember the last time we went on an adventure."
She frowned deeply and the realization made her chest ache. "Shit, you're right."
"Well that's a first."
"Oh shut it," she said firmly.
"No way. This is a momentous occasion," he declared, voice laughing. She punched his belly and smirked when he flinched. "Okay, okay. Is there anything I can do to help? Maybe I can take over some of your missions with Order for a bit, so you can rest up."
And Fae melted against him. Her darling sweetheart. Always trying to be so helpful and useful to others. Too kind. "No, you're as busy as I am. I don't want you to do that," she told him.
"Okay," he said slowly. Then, hopefully, "You could always break up with Kent?" he joked.
"Remus!" she shrieked, cackling.
"What? That would definitely free up a bunch of your time," he argued.
Fae rolled her eyes and lifted her head off his shoulder to head butt his chin playfully. "I'm not breaking up with Kent. No, I'll talk to my boss. I've been putting in tons of hours at night, I'm sure we can come to some sort of agreement."
"Like what?" he asked, automatically responding and giving her a sweet nuzzle.
She thought about it for a minute and then sighed in defeat, but already deciding this was a great idea and kind of excited for it. "Mmmmm… I'll ask for Tuesdays off?"
"Why Tuesdays and not ask for less late-nights?"
"Because I like the late-nights," she said. "And besides, you have Tuesdays off. That way, we can have 'our day' again, as promised. You can fuss as much as you want and make sure I get rest and maybe go on some adventures."
His shock echoed in the silence and then she could practically feel him smile. "Oh. That'd be… That'd be great."
"Yeah, I think so too," she murmured, dreaming of more time spent easily with him, just like this. Then she nudged him hard and pushed him towards the other end of the couch to lay down. "Now, come nap with me?"
Not to mention, she probably wouldn't be seeing him Mondays anymore. She couldn't waste any time at Lucrecia's. No, the library, and finding a solution to this energy issue, would be top priority.
Fae, reluctantly, cut back to one late-night a week. It was harsh to her zine work, but necessary so she didn't get herself killed on a mission. She also took Tuesdays off and Tuesdays quickly became her favorite days, no surprise there. She and Remus went for long drives and longer runs. Fixed up what needed fixing around the house, caught up on the chores, lazed around and read books on the porch swing. It was exactly what she needed. Almost.
"So I'm pretty sure what I need is a conduit."
"A conduit?"
"A conduit. Something magical, an object that I can channel my magic through and then connect to the charms. If I do it right, I'm thinking I can use whatsit to do the charm work and then the charms will be sustained by the conduit," she explained, words spilling out from where they'd been circling in her head for the past few days. It was simple in theory, but where would she find something strong enough to harness that much energy?
Kent considered it for a moment and then clicked his tongue. "I think I have something that might work."
Kent did have something that would work. On their next date, he offered it to her, cheesily and jokingly on one knee. She rolled her eyes, slid it on her right hand ring finger, and then tackled him in a hug and layered kisses all over his cheek. It was gorgeous and elegant and looked extremely old, valuable, expensive, and classy. She just hoped Sirius wouldn't recognize it from his own household. That being said, she decided to just wear it and see how long it would take anybody to even notice. Her brothers weren't all that observant so it would probably just be noticed in a few weeks and shrugged off.
"OH MY GOD, IS THAT A RING?!"
Or not.
Of all times for someone to notice her ring, let alone make a big deal out of it, it just had to be Lily's baby shower. And Lily, heavily pregnant and suffering from hormones, was for once not calm and collected and cool. No, she was completely freaking out and had grabbed Fae's hand, heartbreakingly knocking Fae's plate of cake to the ground as she turned over her hand and inspected her new jewelry.
"Uh. Yes?"
"Oh. My. Gods. Oh my Gods. FAE, YOU'RE GETTING MARRIED?"
And suddenly, mayhem.
There was screaming and squealing and crowding and all of Lily's friends asking a million questions. How did he do it? How long have you guys been together? When and where are you thinking? Are you moving back to France with him? How many kids?
And then James was freaking out, red faced and shoving all the girls out of the way, Sirius and Peter right behind him. "MY BABY SISTER IS GETTING MARRIED?!" And it was so loud that she wasn't actually sure if he was horrified or happy for her. But enough was enough and she wanted more cake, now.
Fae set her wand tip to her throat and let the Sonorus carry her voice across the room. "No! No, fuck, we're not getting married!"
"Then what's with the rock? That's a really, really nice ring," Dorcas asked, eyeing it with envy.
And it was. Absolutely gorgeous, a winding band with two studded strings of emeralds and diamonds inlaid in bright, shiny white gold.
"Uh. It's a six month anniversary gift," she said.
"That's what he got you for six months?"
Fae smiled awkwardly. "Yeah? His family has some money?"
Lily frowned at her and then slapped her cheek lightly. "Well, what are you waiting for? He's sexy, rich, and funny. You guys have been together for six months now and are super happy together. I say just move that to the other hand and lock that down. Merlin knows I would if I had a hot, successful, charming doctor at my beck and call."
"Lily!" both James and Fae screamed.
Fae was teased all night about marrying Kent and she cursed the bastard for having Death Eater duties instead of being here and having to deal with this with her. But it was whatever. As far as Fae was concerned, the ring was completely perfect because it did its job. With a little practice, she perfected its use and finally produced her first, entirely completed, charmed, and sustained case of zines.
She'd just been finishing the final touches, addressing it to Romilly off in Edinburgh currently, and adding a letter and a cute photo of her and Regulus, out of disguise. She'd known Regulus had come back, but Fae knew it would make her happy to see him in some way or another, see that he was alive and still kicking.
Just before she was about to call it a night and add her box to the shipments going out the next day, Kent burst into the workshop.
"Fae, we've got a big problem."
Fae had been curious about what happened to Severus after graduation. She'd written him, curious about if he'd found a job or if he and his mother had gotten out of that abusive household. Guess not. Guess he had still overheard the prophecy and went off to the Dark Lord, telling him all about it. She'd always wondered if he'd realized exactly who's family he was condemning when he'd done that. If he'd known and done it anyways or if he'd figured it out after the fact and then regretted it so badly that he sold himself into spy-slavery for Dumbledore. Either way.
"That motherfucker."
A/N: Guess who's showing up in the next chapterrr!
Hope everyone is having a joyful Tuesday and as always, thanks for reading and for all the love!