Author's Note: It's been a while since I started this collection promising more AUs and oof. They just haven't been coming up—until a God!AU challenge came up and I couldn't help but imagine Remus and Tonks in a modified version of the story of Selene and Endymion, the moon goddess and the shepherd, who fell into endless sleep when Selene asked Zeus to grant him eternal youth. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: The following characters belong to J.K. Rowling, and this story derives from her original works, storylines, and world. Please do not sue me, I can barely pay tuition.

Hogwarts: Assignment 3, Necromancy Task #3 Write a God/Goddess!AU

Warnings: Chronic illness; near death experience

This week's AU: God/dess AU (The myth of Selene and Endymion)

When the Moon Fell in Love

Remus ignored the pain in his hips as he lay back down on the thatched roof, closing his eyes and stretching out to expose his neck and arms to the cool night air. This was what he did every night before the full moon, when he was simultaneously too restless to sleep but too exhausted to do anything else—mostly so that he didn't worry the others who were soundly sleeping in the farmhouse. The crispness and coolness of the air around him wouldn't stop the full moon from running its course or his body from breaking and twisting with the change, but for now it felt better and that was really all Remus could ask for at this point.

He heard the sound of footsteps on the roof and when he turned his head aside and opened his eyes, there she was laying at his side. She was laying on her side, leaning against her hand, silvery hair and white skirts spread around her. Her pewter grey eyes were focused on him, though he saw worried creases between them.

"Hey you," he said. "I wasn't expecting to see you tonight."

"Well, I won't be able to see you tomorrow night," the goddess said, smiling sadly. The worry on her face intensified. "How are you feeling?"

"I'm fine," Remus promised. "This isn't my first time doing this. You would know better than anyone."

"I do," the goddess said. "Would you like to hear about something I saw from my chariot last night to distract you?"

"Always," Remus smiled.

The goddess of the moon was already sitting on the rooftop when he climbed the ladder to join her.

"I missed you yesterday," Remus said when he saw her. It was truer than he had expected it to be, when he'd first opened his mouth and she quite possibly saw him blush even if all they had around them was moonlight. Then again, that was probably all the light she, out of all people (well, beings), needed.

The goddess smiled and brought her legs up against her chest, propping her chin on her knee.

"Did you?" she said. "You know, there's going to be a New Moon every month."

"Trust me, I know how the cycle works," Remus said, carefully easing his way towards her to sit at her side. The satchel thrown over his shoulder had bread and cheese and grapes and a book he thought she might like in it. It would be more than enough for a night to go by quickly.

"You don't look well," the goddess said. Her hand surprised him when she touched his forehead, as if checking for a fever. It was a very human gesture and she was warm and soft to the touch too. Again, surprisingly… well, human.

"I'm…" Remus wasn't sure what to say or what to tell her. "I'll be okay. I had a long night yesterday, as I'm sure you know."

The goddess looked away shyly before meeting his eyes again.

"I sometimes wonder how you can bear to spend time with me, given what the moon does to you," she said.

"It's because I know you," Remus said.

"For better or for worse," she said.

"For the better, I'd say," Remus said. "It's not just you, it's me too. It's my bite, my life. It would be worst to live it alone."

The goddess smiled a tiny bit.

"Well, since you're not alone, what can I do to make you feel better?"

"I've told you before," Remus said. "Company is more than enough."

It was getting harder to climb but Remus wouldn't miss it for the world. It was his favourite place to be and the feeling in his stomach that she appeared by his side to join him under the stars was his favourite. He loved opening his eyes, turning his head, and seeing her at his side—her pewter eyes shining and her hair cascading in darker or lighter shades of grey according to where and when in the month they were.

The goddess tilted her head to the side, observing him.

"That's a nasty cut on your face."

"I'm already feeling better with you here."

She smiled.

"So charming, for a mortal," she smiled. It faded quickly. "But are you alright?"

"I am," he promised. He reached out a hand which she took. He wasn't as surprised by her warmth this time, he hadn't been in a very long time, but he was thankful for it. That he always was.

"I just need your help thinking of a much more interesting story to explain the scar it will leave than 'lycanthropy,'" he said. "The others were useless—Peter kept trying to make up stories about the chickens attacking me…"

She laughed and ran her thumb in circles around his palm.

It was raining.

To be clear, it wasn't the first time since Remus had met the goddess that it rained. But it was the first time that he saw her even when the sky was covered up, even when they weren't in their usual meeting place.

He had gone into the barn overnight to check on the mare and her new foal, to make sure that they had what they needed and perhaps an extra stable blanket for the night. He spotted the family of barn cats that Sirius had all but declared war against, but never in a thousand years would Remus take a side and eject from the barn—especially not on a stormy night like this one. Peter had put the sheep away and the lot of them were sleeping through the thunder and rain quite nicely, which must be a fantastic talent that Remus wished he had. The cows seemed annoyed. Chickens that must have escaped the coop were clucking away, but Remus wouldn't worry about them just then.

When he turned to the barn doors to leave, he saw her standing in the doorframe, dusty grey hair piled on top of her head and out of the way. She was wearing shorter robes than usual, almost as if she'd known that she'd come and didn't want them to drag on the barn floor.

"You're here!" Remus said, moving to join her. The closer to her he got, the louder the sound of the rain and its consistent pitter patter got in his ears.

"I am," she said.

"Why?" Remus asked.

"I wanted to see you," the goddess said as if that was self-explanatory.

Before Remus could ask 'why' again, she kissed him.

"If I could see you during the day," the goddess said as they sat on the roof and she carved designs into his new shepherd's crook, "I would."

"I'm not very interesting during the day," Remus scoffed. "Really, I'm just doing farmwork with the other three. The highlight of our week is going to the market to sell eggs and cheese and bread and whatever else we manage to make."

"You're quite inventive, the four of you," the goddess said. She dug the point of her knife into the wood and seemed quite pleased with herself when a chip of wood came flying out. "But even if it was boring, I would want to be a part of it. I could pretend to be mortal, to fit in. I'd force my hair to take on a normal colour—maybe a mousy brown that could fit in with the crowd—and I'd take a mortal name so that I wouldn't be recognized. Something like… something like Dora."

"Dora," Remus smiled. "Well, you know, I can call you that without you having to come be boring with us. Dora."

She smiled and handed the crook back to him. He ran his fingers along the engravings in the wood, which showed the phases of the moon and the outline of constellations.

She had made the moonlight especially bright for him to read by what felt like seconds ago, but already he was shutting the book he'd been reading and turned to face her to see what she thought about the ending.

She was laying on her stomach, arms pillowed under her head and a lazy smile on her lips.

"Start the story over," Dora mused. "It was a good one, and good stories should go on."

He couldn't argue with that logic.

He kept reading and got a few chapters in before taking a break to rest his voice. The goddess simply watched him.

"I didn't mean to fall in love with you," she said plainly.

Remus felt himself blush.

"I promise," the goddess said, sitting up and taking the book from him, opening it and flipping the pages to where he had let off. "But I did, and good stories should go on, yes?"

"Yes," Remus agreed.

"Chapter 3?"

"Chapter 3," he agreed.

He was sitting on the grass, leaning against the ladder and trying to steady his breathing as his joints moaned in protest and pain.

"Remus," she said.

When he opened his eyes it seemed like the world was swimming, but he knew his head was just dizzy with pain.

"Remus," she said, kneeling before him. He felt her hands on his shoulders through the nauseating amount of other sensations he was reckoning with.

"Remus, what's wrong?" the goddess asked again. They were getting closer to the full moon and so her silver hair was darkening. It was bound backwards in a romantically loose braid.

"Nothing, Dora," he said. "Just… just a rough transformation yesterday."

"Are you hurt?" she asked pressingly.

"Of course," Remus said. "But I'll be fine… I…"

He lost his breath when he tried to push himself up but Dora caught him, holding him against her milky white form.

"It's gotten worse," Dora whispered.

"Of course it has," Remus said, slumping so that his forehead rested on his shoulder. "I'm getting older."

"What?" Dora asked. "I mean, of course, that's what mortals do, but…"

"We've known each other a long time," he said. "Years, now. Did you know that we first met twenty years ago?"

"Twenty?" the goddess repeated as if the idea that she should count had never crossed her mind which, quite frankly, it possibly hadn't.

"And I didn't feel like a young man then, either," Remus said. "Sometimes I think the changes age me twice as fast."

"Well what can I do?" she asked quietly.

"Nothing," Remus said. "Please, I… I think I need to sleep tonight."

Another farmer, the one she assumed must be Sirius based on the stories she'd heard from Remus, was sitting on the rooftop when the goddess came.

"Huh," Sirius said, looking at the goddess. "Not what I expected Remus' type to be, but here we are, I supposed."

"Where is he?" she asked, paying no attention to what she assumed was teasing. That was, after all, what Remus' stories always suggested one should do before the handsome, sharp-tongued Sirius.

"Sleeping," Sirius said. He didn't say more than that which gave her some time to look him over. The subject of age had loomed large in her mind since Remus had brought it forth, and she tried to assess the toll that time had took on Sirius. He did not look as tired, worn, grey, and weary as Remus did, though she knew they were the same age.

"I'm Dora," she said finally.

"You're not, you're a goddess," Sirius said. "I mean, I'll call you Dora if you want, but you need to understand that Remus is mortal."

"Mortal and dying," Dora said.

"Yes," Sirius said. He cleared his throat uncomfortably and scratched the back of his head. "James and I, we were hoping we'd find a potion that would help his body weather the transformations, make them more gentle… but he was bitten so young. He's been through this so many times."

"I know," the goddess said.

"I think you do but I also think you don't," Sirius said. "Just… have you ever lost somebody, goddess? Because we're not ready for what's coming but at least we understand the permanence of it."

"I understand," Dora said.

What she meant to say, though she did not feel the need to explain herself to a mortal, was that she understood that she could not let it happen.

When she finished riding the moon through the sky, when she went back to the place where only the gods could go (even in stories and to the eyes of readers), she made for the throne room with a question in her throat and the weight of a life on her heart.

When Remus woke up he took a deep breath and paused to assess where it hurt. To his incredible surprise, nothing did.

Perhaps even more surprising was that Dora sat on the simple wooden chair next to his bed, the one where he'd gotten used to seeing James, Peter, or Sirius standing vigil even if he promised them he would be fine. When she saw him awaken her lips parted slightly, letting out a sigh. Her hair tumbled loosely down her back, jet black which made her eyes shine even more.

"Dora," he said. When he reached out to her he realized that the scars that had pockmarked and criss-crossed his arms for so many years after so many painful transformations weren't there. He was just sunburned and tanned and rough-handed, like any other farmer in the valley.

She took his hand immediately in both of hers and squeezed it, bringing it to her lips and kissing his knuckles. Behind her he saw the other boys, by the door and bottlenecking the hall.

"What happened?" Remus asked.

"I did what I could," Dora whispered. "It… it won't fix everything and it won't stop nature from running its course, she can't be stopped. But I could have them make you young again, whenever you slept."

Remus carefully pushed himself back up, but as it turned out he hadn't had to be careful. He got up easily and smoothly, as if he was in another body, and looked around.

"You…" he turned from his friends to Dora and threw his arms around her neck. He felt her melt against him, and ran a hand through her hair to cup her head.

"You asked me years ago how I could love the moon," Remus whispered in her ear. "This is why."

Stacked with: MC4A; Shipping Wars; Hogwarts

Individual Challenge(s): Gryffindor MC (x2), Hufflepuff MC; Marauders Tale; Bow Before the Blacks; Immortal MC (Y); Brush; Seeds; No Need for Calendars; Old Shoes; True Colours; Rian-Russo Inversion; Real Family; In a Flash; Yellow Ribbon; Yellow Ribbon Redux

Word Count: 2392

Shipping Wars

Ship (Team): Remus Lupin/Nymphadora Tonks (Technicolour Moon)

List (Prompt): Fall Micro 1 (God/dess AU)