Chapters Five - Thirteen are un-beta'd. If anyone notices a issue please let me know! Thank you xo
Chapter 6 - Remus
This wasn't fucking easy and it wasn't fucking fair. He was fine. He had been fine.
He made this promise to himself and to her, years ago and by Merlin he was going to fucking keep it.
That's what he kept telling himself as he kept his back towards her, cleaning a glass. He always kept his back to her, if he could. When she was in his line of vision it was hard to resist his ...urge, his longing that had been bottled inside of him since he met her fifteen years ago. It was the hardest thing he had ever done in his life.
He had been on this earth for thirty-eight years, but you couldn't tell by the way his body was stuck at nineteen. As he grew older his young boy looks irritated him as it was just another reason for the world to look at him with pity. He hated being pitied, but pity alongside looking young came hand in hand with his lycanthropy. According to his father, wizards with his condition didn't age at the same rate as everyone else to begin with. Sprinkle in some soulmate magic or whatever bullshit the wizarding world wanted to label this phenomena and he never expected to know what he was supposed to look like at his true age.
When Remus was a young boy before his parents passed, his father explained to him what would happen to him with every full moon and his mother told him fairytales of the 'magical' moment when he met the one witch or wizard made for him. If his mother had been alive years ago when he made that deal with Severus, she would've smacked him upside the head years ago, just as she would now knowing he saw her and chose not to say anything. He swore every time someone made a comment about his poor luck on having not met his soulmate yet he could feel his mother's glare directed right at him.
He was used to keeping his distance, though. It had been fifteen years and the thought of how quickly time passed caused him to pause. Fifteen years, damn.
When he built this establishment years ago he meant for it to be a distraction and he ended up building a sanctuary for himself. If he was being honest, he built this place for her also. He never purposely went out of his way to make this be a home for her but he also didn't go out of his way to make it unwelcoming.
He made sure he stocked her favorite whisky, which happened to be a popular whisky so his patrons would also be happy. He had all of her favorite authors, which to be fair she loved a bunch of different authors. He could not have a well-stocked bookshop without running into a few of them. So in a way, he was simply catering to his patrons.
The mild concealment charm he had on the chairs shielding the readers from view, which seemed like a good idea when he placed them, allowing the reader to truly relax without worrying about being seen and photographed or judged for their book choice; yet also allowed certain areas to be seen so if they needed one of the staffs attention they would easily receive service.
Certain areas that were driving him mad, now. He hadn't known that she would be showing up in those bloody pencil skirts day after day, her milky skin contrasting beautifully against the deep saphire of that chair. Fuck, he had to remind himself to thank Severus for gifting that chair to him.
The thought of his long time friend caused him to smile. It was an unconventional friendship, that was true. No one expected them to be friends considering their history. However it was their annoyance of being judged as inferior for having not yet met their soulmate, in addition to their previous friends having died early on, that caused them to lean on each other. After Hermione, their bond was sealed.
'I can do this' Remus reminded himself as he finished unloading the clean drinkware and organising them into their designated spots on the bar. He just needed to keep busy. She would leave soon, once she reached a spot in the book where she could look up and notice the darkness outside.
The bar always felt colder once she left, his wolf angry with him for letting him leave.
Remus has had this conversation with Mooney multiple times however, when it came to her safety this was for the best. He had spent years warring with himself whether what had happened, the choice he had made, was best for them, for her. He should have never allowed himself to get as close to her as he had, but he lacked the self control he had now back then.
'Its okay, Mooney' he told his inner wolf, 'we will have her back soon.'