Rhea should have known.
She should have known that idiot wouldn't actually clean Harry's room by hand.
Of course not. That prat.
Leo had to call for help. How could a pureblood teenager do chores, after all.
She was so furious, she had slammed the door of her bedroom with as much force she could muster. A loud click had resounded soon after, effectively locking the door, without Rhea even touching it.
She was standing in the middle of the room. The old battered teddy bear on the bed was staring at her with its lifeless black eyes. Rhea gave it a dirty look and in a fit of rage, she grabbed it and violently threw it at the wall. It slid pathetically to the ground.
A rush of adrenaline and magic was flowing liberally in her body, making her feel powerful and dizzy. It wasn't a good thing. Her whole body was turning stiff with the effort, as she felt that if she relaxed just a little magic could stream out of her body.
In the back of her mind, a loud alarm was going off. Today's date was flashing like a warning sign. The realisation made her body tense with even more force but at the same time, she felt frustrated with the whole situation.
Why her? She knew the answer to that.
Rhea could have cried at this moment; if she wasn't so petrified she might have, but instead, she forced herself to count slowly to ten and breathe. One. Exhale. Two. Inhale. Three. Exhale. Four-
She yelped in surprise as a knock at the door broke her focus.
"Can I come in, love?"
It was the gentle voice of her dad, her mind suddenly was wiped off all self-deprecating thoughts like a clean blackboard.
"Come in," she said in a voice that was barely over a whisper, but that was heard without effort. The door handle shook before she could move to unlock the door, a soft Alohomora was muttered on the other side and it clicked open without opposition.
Remus's pale blue eyes were tender and soft when he locked eyes with Rhea's, she felt like he could read her mind. She couldn't help but hung her head; with her cheeks burning she sat on her bed and hugged her knees tightly.
A sigh resonated in the air and soon after Rhea's bed creaked under the weight of someone sitting on it.
"Love…" Remus's voice faltered, trying to continue talking was proving harder than she thought for someone like her father, who never seemed to run out of wise remarks. "You know Leo didn't do it on purpose, right?"
Did she?
At this point, she couldn't see how he wasn't at fault to some degree. If only that blockhead would have done the cleaning on his own. If he hadn't called for that…
She loathed just the thought of that…thing.
Thinking back on what happened in Harry's room made her blood boil. She couldn't get rid of those words. They kept echoing in her head. An infinite loop. Dirty, half-breed, filth.
Even if only a few accidents of the sort had happened in the course of the last ten years that they had been living in Grimmauld Place, it still was a hurtful experience.
Not that she couldn't hear that vile creature mutter insults under its breath directed at every member of the family, but it usually tried to avoid contact with every human being in the house as much as it could. It went to the lengths of actually cleaning the house during the night. She shivered every time thinking of that thing sneaking into her room while she was asleep. It was extremely creepy to wake up to a perfectly made-up bed, with her still in it.
While Rhea stubbornly kept silent, Remus lifted one hand to caress her head affectionately. Rhea relaxed in an instant; what usually comforted her in the aftermath of one of her outbursts was not a lecture on how to maintain calm or any wise little pill of knowledge. Silence and affection were what she preferred, it was what actually calmed her swirling thoughts and, in some cases, her volatile magic.
"Are you feeling better now?" her dad inquired in a low voice, resting his hand gently on her upper arm. Rhea finally lifted her face from her knees to look openly at her dad. She nodded and watched Remus's blue eyes turn a shade of warmer blue while a slow, satisfied smile spread on his lips.
"Give Leo a chance," he said in a tone that suggested he wanted to make peace. "You know he couldn't predict you would come into the room," he continued pleading with her with a significant look.
She frowned. He always had to play peacemaker, didn't he? It was the last thing she wanted to hear right now. She had the right to be mad, after the vile things the elf had spat so hatefully. It didn't matter that her dad was technically right.
She didn't want to reason.
"But the things that —that— thing said! You should have heard it, dad!" she stumbled over the words in her haste to protest her dad's unreasonable request. He put his hands up, interrupting her grumbling.
"I know, I know. Kreacher is quite a bit of a-er." Remus got a pensive look on his face, he was probably trying to find a word to describe the house-elf that wasn't a swear word.
Rhea rolled her eyes, "Dad! I'm almost fifteen. I know bad words anyway."
"I just don't want you to use them," he said, "at least not in front of you poor old Da, love," he added with a glint in his eyes.
Rhea crossed her arms in a sulking manner. Still, something inside her urged her to be angry, to destroy things and all sorts of destructive behaviours. She did know why those kinds of urges were especially difficult to ignore right at this moment.
Remus almost looked defeated for a second, before he gently took his daughter's arms and made her look directly at him.
"I know what you're feeling right now. You just can't get rid of the anger, can you?" he smiled sadly, the way he did when they ended up talking about this subject, "We're getting hit pretty hard this month, aren't we?" he said rubbing her arms with both hands in what was supposed to be a reassuring.
Rhea noticed for the first time that day that the dark circles under his eyes were darker and deeper than usual. His hair was more ruffled and in general, he looked pretty tired.
She wasn't the only one feeling prickly today. In fact, he was probably having it worse than she did. He was just really good at hiding it, after 20 and more years of practice. After all, he was the one who was a whole werewolf.
Despite feeling pretty grumpy himself, he was still putting her before anything else in his life, comforting her after one of her stupid fits.
She looked down, feeling pretty ashamed of herself.
"I'm sorry, dad. I was acting like a really, really stup-," she muttered dejectedly before being interrupted again.
"A teenager," he finished for her, "just like you're supposed to."
"But, you were suffering too! And I could have noticed, and, and-"
Remus gave her arms a little squeeze to grab her attention. "Listen, love. I'm an adult. You are my baby girl and noticing things and making it better is exactly what my job description says," he said laughing a little, not in the least displeased with her as she thought.
Rhea started biting her lower lip. She wasn't entirely persuaded, but to not worry her father further with her own thoughts she smiled with tight lips.
Her dad's eyebrow shot up in an interrogating manner. As usual he could see right through her.
"I'm fine," she said shrugging to dissipate any bad thoughts,"Seriously, I just need a hug, dad."
He smiled lopsidedly and just opened his arms, inviting her to throw herself at him the way she used to when she was a child. The simple gesture was enough to bring a real smile to Rhea's face. Without second guessing she hugged her dad tightly around his middle, resting her head comfortably on his chest. While Remus's large hands were caressing her long, light hair.
They stayed in that position for a few more minutes until a small knock on the door got their attention.
The door cracked open before Rhea could say a word, and Leo's apologetic face popped in. She felt the smile slowly slid off her face. The atmosphere in the room completely changed in only a few seconds; the silence heavy and uncomfortable. The previous incident was still much too fresh in her mind, and she felt awkward being in the same room right now.
Without saying anything, her father patted Leo on the shoulder while heading out and managed to glance back at Rhea. The tight smile on her dad's face seemed to prompt her to be gentle.
Leo walked further into the room; eyes on the floor and he ended up awkwardly leaning against her four poster bed in what was a failed attempt at being casual.
Rhea automatically raised her brow at him when he finally met her eyes. His pose was so painfully awkward she had to bite her lips not to laugh.
He let out a nervous chuckle, "I'm really not good at apologising, am I?" he asked, abandoning any pretence.
Rhea finally let out a laugh while saying, "No, you're not."
Now that the ice was broken, Leo let himself slide down to sit on the end of the mattress.
"You must think I'm a prat," he started in what seemed his way of testing the waters.
"Just a little," Rhea said in a small voice.
"Yeah," he let out feebly, "I only had to open a window or, I don't know, fluff the pillows," he gesticulated wildly to demonstrate. "Instead of calling that prick."
"Fluff the pillows?"
Leo passed a hand through his long fringe, "Well, I don't know how to clean a room."
"Clearly," she said wryly.
He sighed, "Yeah, I'm a spoiled brat." Eyes downcast and shoulders sagging.
Rhea found out she wasn't really angry at him anyway, like her father had said.
"It's okay, I'm not mad at you."
Leo's head shot up instantly at her words, and added quickly after almost tripping on his own words in excitement, "If it's any help, Dad threatened Kreacher with a dirty sock. That was enough to make him beg forgiveness, you've should have seen it! I'm pretty sure Dad kicked his arse all the way to his den for good measure." He would have rambled more if Rhea hadn't stopped him.
"You don't have to make me feel better."
"Well, I kind of do. Kreacher said some horrible shirt," Leo was confused for a second before huffing frustratedly, "Ugh."
"Can't swear, remember?" Rhea said, trying to suppress her laughter.
"I just," she sighed not knowing how to express the feeling of distress and anger she had felt hearing Kreacher's insults, "I don't know, he just makes me feel…vulnerable, I guess," she shrugged.
Leo was looking at her intently, prompting her to continue.
"I mean, he just reminds me why we need to hide my dad's lycanthropy, my half-breed status," at this she twisted her mouth in distaste remembering how Kreacher had spat that word, "why Uncle Sirius carved that stupid motto on the mantle, you know?"
Rhea knew she was rambling but she couldn't stop; all the anger and distress was transforming into frustration now.
"We need to stick together or we'll have every wizard and witch out there saying what that vile creature said," she waved her arm around to get her point across. "Every day of the rest of my life," she finished bleakly and slumped back on the headboard; deflated after letting all that out.
Suddenly Leo moved from his place and plopped right next to her, jostling her a bit and comfortably wrapping his arm around her sagging shoulders.
"I'll never let that happen to you. Nor will my dad, you know," he said with such confidence in his voice that Rhea straightened her back a little. "I'll protect you with my body, my lady," he said in a mockingly serious voice.
She laughed and shook her head at his attempt to make her feel better, "All right. Thank you for the offer."
"Oh, I'll also start dusting my room! Kreacher will probably start banging his head on the walls, cursing me into next year or something."
"Don't be daft, he never curses at you as much as the rest of us. I don't think he can physically hold a grudge against you, for some reason."
"I don't think muttering blood-traitor," he said, drawing his hands together in a hilarious imitation of the house-elf "qualifies as liking."
Rhea couldn't help but laugh at the ridiculous expression he had made, "Nice impression. Uncanny."
"Thanks. I've been working on that," Leo deadpanned.
They couldn't hold their laughter for more than five-seconds, soon they were laughing loudly together.
—-
A steaming hot cup of tea was sitting on the worn table top in the kitchen of Grimmauld Place. The lemony scent was wafting in the kitchen invitingly, but Remus hadn't even had a sip yet. He was staring blankly at the carved words over the mantle of the big fireplace at the opposite end of the room.
The silly words Remus had scoffed at so many times - us against the world - were Sirius doing, of course, trust him to come up with something ridiculous. Initially it was meant as a bit of a prank, something to get on Remus's nerves—and on Kreacher's, of course—but it had been up there for ten years already.
Sirius or he had never bothered to remove it.
Incredibly the kids had loved it when they were little. Remus fondly remembered their little faces lighting up when Sirius got his wand out and waved it around. He could still hear their excited little squeals. They'd chanted those words for the next few months ad nauseam.
Much to Remus's displeasure they couldn't just erase it after that, we wouldn't want to disappoint the kiddos, Sirius had said grinning.
Back then they'd just arrived in Grimmauld Place, Rhea and him, just the two of them. Remus's heart jolted uncomfortably in his chest.
He had asked himself, why Sirius would ever choose his old childhood home to live in. When he was sixteen he had loathed it with such a passion that he had sworn to never put his foot in there ever again.
Remus hadn't been a proper friend to him those last few years after the end of the war. In his opinion he didn't have any right to ask such personal questions, especially when Padfoot had been so willing to welcome them to live with him and his son.
Until, a few days after they'd settled into Grimmauld Place, he finally understood.
How many nights had he been woken up by screams and pleads coming from Sirius's room? Pleadings for his son's life and for Marlene's life—that had been for naught—followed by agonizing screams of pain.
Sirius had warded the kids's bedrooms but not Remus's, he couldn't believe he had simply forgotten.
He'd wanted help.
He just couldn't ask for it. Never knew how to, even when they were teenagers roaming Hogwarts's halls.
From that point on, Remus had taken care of his nightmares with Dreamless potions and hot chocolate. That had been the turning point in mending their friendship.
And then there had been Harry, of course. He was the other reason that had brought them together again. The last thing that remained of James —and Lily, of course— the last person they could hope to protect, the last person Remus could have returned to Britain for.
Even though Grimmauld wasn't the house Harry had spent his childhood in, like Sirius and Remus had hoped he could, or even the entire summer break - now that he had started Hogwarts almost four years ago. No one could say it wasn't his home. And that the people living in it weren't his family.
Speaking of which, Remus shook his right arm free of the long sleeve of the jacket he was wearing to check the battered wrist watch. It was three minutes to 9 o'clock. Remus had the time to gulp half of his now disgustingly cold tea and toss the rest down the drain, before he heard a familiar pop outside the house.
Remus was leaning in the frame of the parlour's door, listening casually to the conversation happening outside. "Alright there, Harry?" Remus snickered, someone still couldn't stomach Side-Along Apparition.
A few seconds later, Sirius thrusted the front door open while guiding Harry in.
"You know James could not stomach side-along apparition too," he commented, eyes brightening, no doubt reminiscing a hilarious memory.
As soon as they crossed the entrance, Remus could hear a loud rumble coming from upstairs, approaching quickly. Harry's slightly green face lit up with a grin.
"Here comes the pack," Sirius announced in a sing-songy voice. It seriously sounded like the second floor was about to collapse.
Leo jumped the last three steps and got to Harry first. He and Harry flung themselves at each other at the same time, almost knocking themselves to the floor. Sirius was watching them, smiling proudly.
Harry had just succeeded to extract himself from Leo's hug when his daughter crashed into Harry with considerable strength.
"Harry!"
"Rhea!"
Harry lifted Rhea off her feet while hugging her tightly.
Remus was smiling at the dramatic scene in front of him. Teenagers. They'd only been apart for a couple of months, after all. Truthfully, he couldn't help the warm feeling washing through him. Harry was finally home.