Chapter Seven: Deception on Display

Harry stayed a few days at the Burrow, and the members of Phoenix House were invited over for dinner on the full moon, which was the sixteenth of August. Elodie contrived to have herself invited to stay the night there (Well, we don't want to confuse his werewolf self so soon after he's had to pretend I'm his wife, I'm sure you understand?).

It was almost their agreed-on bedtime for Harry when Elodie realized something. Since Remus didn't know that the cookies he loved so much were Gâteaufidél, he might conceivably seek to share them with Harry, since she'd made them only a few days before, while Harry was away at the Burrow. If Elodie didn't stop Remus, he might discover the truth about them on a day he had asked Elodie to stay away from him. Moony's attachment to her was worrisome to Remus as it was, but if he were to find out that she provably loved Remus before she and Sirius had started a relationship, he might think of that as a prior claim.

There was no way Elodie was having that conversation in a Firecall, so she Apparated home into her bedroom, hoping that she wouldn't freak out her family too much.

Then, Elodie realized that she'd thought of Sirius, Remus, and Harry as her family.

Sirius came to find her; he must have heard the 'pop' of Apparition coming from the bedroom. When he walked in, Elodie was sitting on the bed, wiping her eyes with a corner of their oversized bedspread.

"What happened?" he said, coming over to her.

"Nothing! I just realized you're my family, and I started to cry like a little girl," Elodie said, resentfully.

Sirius started to laugh and folded her into a huge hug. "You are brilliant, you know that?"

"Not brilliant enough to realize that Remus might accidentally offer Harry Gâteaufidél," she sniffed into his chest.

"But you did, you're here to stop it, aren't you?" he pointed out. "Wait here."

Sirius ran for the door, and she wanted to shout after him that he'd just draw more attention by rushing, but she didn't want to draw the attention that yelling (and her presence in the house!) would, so she conjured a handkerchief to blow her nose on and Vanished it when she was finished.

"Hidden with a Notice Me Not charm," Sirius reported, a few minutes later.

"You are the one who is brilliant," she told him. "You can conjure up an Elodie pillow, if you miss me, you know. That's what I did, months ago."

"Before you even knew you were mine," Sirius said, nodding. "I remember you telling me."

"Quit trying to turn me on, I have to go back and learn how to magically fold sheets!" Elodie protested. She kissed him and thanked him again before Apparating back to the Burrow.

"One catastrophe averted!" she told herself.

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A week later, Elodie was on five catastrophes averted, though the definition of 'catastrophe' was a subject to be debated.

Harry and Sirius had been convinced for days that a Muggle had sighted them on Buckbeak, and Remus had lectured both of them about the fact that Ministry keeps tabs on local newspapers and follows up with the local magical population should a Muggle write in about a UFO or other supernatural activity.

They got two different owls from the Ministry with questions about their house and provisions for Harry, both of which implied imminent visits which disrupted everyone's sense of peace and sent Sirius packing to Grimmauld for most of the day.

The worst (but least impactful) catastrophe was the day Remus left a few Gâteaufidél cookies on a plate and Harry found them. Elodie had been the only one home, so she explained that they were trick cookies that Sirius had left out for him, and the best way to thwart Sirius was to never speak of them again.

She had been rather proud of herself for that one.

By the thirtieth of August, Remus and Elodie had given up trying to be around at Phoenix House as 'bait' for the Ministry, which seemed content to send them letters at odd intervals asking bizarre things like how much milk Harry liked with his breakfast. They both felt that they shouldn't become complacent, however.

Order Headquarters had begun to be treated as somewhat of a social gathering place, so all of them were there when the owls came to announce the chosen Prefects for Gryffindor that year. Ron and Hermione were very pleased with their Prefect badges, though they tried to be subdued so as not to hurt Harry's feelings when they saw he had not gotten one.

Harry was hurt. She could tell. Elodie let Remus be the one to pull Harry aside and talk to him, since she had never attended Hogwarts. Remus told Harry about how being a target can sometimes mean that adults make different decisions than they would have otherwise. She wished Charlie was around, because he had a great outlook on not being made Head Boy when his brothers had been.

Albus Flooed in after lunch, and he looked harried. She had already stood up and was in the middle of walking over to greet him when he gestured for her to follow him. He went into the small library, now their unofficial private meeting space, holding the door for her and casting a series of wards on it after it had closed.

"I feel like I should be offering you a lemon drop," Elodie said sympathetically.

"Yes, Minerva described me as 'windswept' this morning," he said. "I must ask you, Elodie: were you the anonymous writer who urged me this past July not to hire Dolores Umbridge as the next Defense Against the Dark Arts professor?"

Elodie made a face. "Yes," she said, but before she could elaborate, Albus nodded decisively and settled into the desk chair.

"I thought as much. Truth be told, I ignored your letter. It was outlandish, the idea that I would ever choose to hire that woman."

"Something happened, didn't it?" Elodie guessed. In truth, she knew what he had to be upset over, but she wished she was wrong.

"It has. It all goes back to my original plan, you see. I wanted Bill Weasley for DADA this year. He has a contract with the goblins for curse-breaking until early December, and, well! That was that, as they say." He straightened his arms out and then folded his hands in front of him at the desk. With a whispered, wandless spell, Albus adjusted his half-moon spectacles back up his nose. "Fingerprints are a bane, on these." he explained, gesturing to them. "So I spoke with the goblins, and that got nowhere. They were most put out after the incident with the philosopher's stone. No favors left, they told me. In the end, I'd decided that I could teach the class myself for a few months, get a good idea of how far along each year of students are versus where they should be."

"That's a sound plan," Elodie said.

"Not according to the Ministry." Albus frowned. "They've passed a new ordinance allowing them to choose professors if they dislike the way I've filled the position. So Professor Dolores Umbridge shall be teaching Defense this coming year, whether I protest the appointment or not."

"Oh, no! I assume if there was something to be done, you'd have done it by now?" she dangled, hoping against hope that he had some kind of a plan.

"That's why I wanted to talk to you. I assume you had a vision?" Albus looked to her with only a fraction of the hope Leia Organa had in Ben Kenobi, but it still felt weighty to her. It seemed that Albus's plan was Elodie.

"Yes. I saw Harry leaving a detention with her, and he was holding his hand to his chest in pain. There was blood. I- I was hoping I was wrong. That I'd just… imagined some awful scenario that couldn't possibly come true," she lied.

Elodie had agonized about sending the letter. In the end, she'd sent it anonymously, feeling that she couldn't call on 'visions' every time something she didn't like was about to happen. Umbridge teaching at Hogwarts felt inevitable, a symptom of the disease that was Voldemort. So, she'd sent the letter, and focused on contingency plans in case it didn't work.

She hadn't been Harry's guardian, at the time. In retrospect, Elodie wished she'd slept outside of Albus's office for a week to make her point.

"You're sure it was her?" Albus asked.

"Certain. And I've seen it multiple times, enough to have spent time thinking about what to do should my letter not be enough," Elodie said wryly. Albus motioned for her to continue. "I've been rereading certain chapters of Hogwarts, A History and one part in particular jumped out to me. There's a section about the dedication and devotion to students that each successive Mediwitch in charge of the Hospital Wing has shown. Mentioned in it is a spell that isn't named. It is a kind of ward that will notify its caster that the recipient is in pain or bleeding. The book states that certain accident-prone students were looked after in this way."

"So you're suggesting we catch her in the act of whatever bloody punishments she will mete out?" Albus asked her. "That has potential, but I fear that we must tread carefully. If you or I or even Remus were to be the genesis of such a spell, I am not so certain we would be believed." He sat back in the chair and stroked his beard. "Tradition seems to be in order, here. Would you be willing to visit Madame Pomfrey tomorrow, perhaps during the time between when the Hogwarts Express leaves the station and the students arrive in the evening? You and Remus could request her assistance as a couple."

"Attribute the request to… what? Bullying?" she asked. "I love the idea, I'm just thinking it would have more credibility if we didn't come right out and state that we expect him to be physically assaulted by a member of the staff!"

"Quite so. Yes, his nature as a minor celebrity and the rancor the students have over the loss of Mr. Diggory seem like solid concerns to me," Albus agreed. "Can I tell her to expect the two of you sometime tomorrow, then? You will, of course, purport to be married, something Poppy will likely be delighted about. She felt quite affectionate toward Remus during his days there."

Elodie nodded stiffly. There was something far more awful about lying to people who cared about the two of them like Horace or Madame Pomfrey. Lying to the Ministry felt like getting some of their own back, at least to Elodie.

Albus must have sensed her discomfort. "Elodie, I haven't said this to you because I respect your privacy, but, I feel now might be the right time to ask you about the day you showed up in my office with a certain recognizable baked item?"

Elodie scrunched up her face in amused regret, but nodded without explaining her side of that day's events. She wasn't going to give anything away for free, not today.

"I suspected at that moment that something extraordinary might have happened, and when a few weeks later it became clear that you were involved with Sirius, and not Remus…"

Albus left off, clearly hoping she would rescue him, but Elodie had precious few chances to have one up on the headmaster of Hogwarts, so she smiled broadly.

"Go on?" she prompted. His eyes brightened with a grudging respect.

"I see you are pressing your advantage, young lady," he said.

"I so rarely have one, do you blame me?"

"Can they both touch it, then?" he asked bluntly. She nodded. "That is rather extraordinary, you know," Albus said, but he looked unsurprised. "If you'll forgive me, that was part of my internal reasoning when looking for a suitable guardian pair. Your misfortune is definitely in Harry's best interest, I'm sorry to say."

"I'm not-" Elodie stopped herself, took a deep breath, and spoke more calmly. "I don't mind as much, anymore. It's human nature to get used to things, after all. I had hoped to persuade my heart to give up on Remus, but the guardianship makes that… difficult. Sirius deserves-"

"Let me stop you there, Elodie." Albus leaned forward in his chair to fix her with a direct, but affectionate gaze. "You are a kind person who seems to always seek to improve the lives of the people around you. In so doing you may sometimes forget how much you've already done. I am ashamed to say that I hadn't given much thought to where Sirius would be safest, after looking for a place for Remus to convalesce. Without you, both of them would be in far worse circumstances, I am sure."

"Well, thank you," Elodie said awkwardly. A thought struck her that had her sitting down on the nearest flat surface. "Does everyone else- I mean, do you think people are questioning my… I don't even know how to describe what I'm trying to ask, honestly," she said, distressed.

Albus stood up and walked over to her. "No one who has seen you and Sirius interact could have any doubt about your mutual feelings. Remus holds himself apart for multiple reasons, some of which I disagree with, but he is naturally less demonstrative. It's clear that you respect this, and so the way you and Remus interact is quite different, if that's what you are asking. It's obvious that the two of you have great respect for each other, the levels of which could be compared with Sirius and Remus, or perhaps even Minerva and myself."

Elodie couldn't tell him that this helped only slightly. After all, Sirius/Remus was one of the most popular fanfiction couples of the entire book series, and Minerva/Albus wasn't devoid of fans. Still, he meant well, and she trusted that he would tell her if he thought she looked like she mooned over Remus when no one was looking.

"Thank you, Albus," she said, hoping the sincerity in her voice was evident to him. He smiled at her in a very kindly way, but his next words threw her for a loop.

"It would do the two of you good, in light of what I just said, to perhaps be seen in public this evening, looking like a happy couple. If the papers have no other way to snap a candid picture of Harry Potter's new guardians, they may seek more invasive ways to go about it."

"But, you just said-"

"That was about your behavior around the rest of the Order, Elodie. In public, you and Remus must foster a different impression, I'm afraid."

Elodie stared at Albus. He really was good at manipulating other people while at the same time simply appearing like a kindly, meddlesome old man. "We could give Sirius some alone time with Harry and go buy him some Quidditch supplies at Diagon Alley?" she suggested in a dazed sort of voice.

"That's perfect. Run along and warn Remus, would you? And send Sirius in? I need to give him some details about the magical parameters of guardianship while Harry is at Hogwarts. There are some spells we need to cast together, ones that biological parents and guardians aren't required to perform."

Elodie turned to leave, but Albus stopped her by touching her arm. In an unexpected move, he leaned over and kissed her cheek, and she moved quickly to kiss his cheek before he pulled back. He chuckled and she left feeling as if she had gotten at least some of her own back.

Remus and Sirius were in Sirius's old bedroom. Elodie knocked on the doorframe to get their attention, then walked in.

"Wow, you've done a lot in here!" she said. There was no dust to be seen anywhere, the bed was neatly made, and while it was still cluttered with furniture and random things like a Beater's bat, the room looked clean. The posters of half-naked Muggle women were still on the walls, however.

"Not quite enough, judging by the look on your face!" Sirius said, coming over to her. He put his arms around her as if to waltz, and then dipped her deeply, giving her a thorough kiss. "So: why did you really come by, love?"

"Albus says there are certain spells you and he need to cast so that the guardian magic recognizes Harry's allowed to attend Hogwarts. He says they're different if you're not blood relatives," she told him. "He's downstairs in the library."

"I'm off, then," Sirius said, squeezing her hand and walking to the door.

"Wait- would you like an evening with Harry, just the two of you?" Elodie asked. Remus walked over, perceptive enough to guess that this meant he was going to be given an assignment of his own.

"Always," Sirius answered without pausing to think about it.

"Albus suggested Remus and I make ourselves visible to prevent nosy reporter visits," she said. "Has Harry hinted to you about anything he needs for school?"

"Gloves for Quidditch," Sirius answered after a minute of thinking. "Go somewhere nice for dinner. I'll transfer some funds over."

Before either of them could object, Sirius Apparated out of the room instead of walking.

"You were thinking Diagon?" Remus said after muttering something derisively affectionate about Sirius under his breath.

"Yeah. Albus pointed out that if we're hard to find, they'll just track us down at home, rather than wait for us to appear somewhere easily photographable," she said by way of apology.

"That makes sense. I shouldn't have much objection to the lack of warning, since if someone did pop by the house, I would have none," Remus said. He looked down at himself. "There are two hours until dinner. Should we go now, then head back to change before finding somewhere suitably 'fancy' to satisfy our housemate?"

Elodie looked down at herself. She'd chosen one of the long 90's skirts from her collection in a solid color that matched her embroidered blouse.

"You look pretty, we should just go," Remus said. "Any nicer and we'll look too mis-matched as a couple to be believed," he added, touching his wand to his frayed hem to repair it.

"Love knows no station, Remus, you know that. But, I know what you mean. You are sufficiently handsome to match, in my opinion." She tried to say it matter-of-factly enough to not trigger his automatic rejection of compliments. He shot her a bit of a cross look that told her he knew that's what she had been doing.

"If you knew how much I love when you look cross, you probably never would," Elodie blurted out.

"What!" Remus said, bemused. "Surely not. It must be your frustrating ability to defend yourself against all criticism; you're convincing yourself it's attractive, instead. If you really loved it you'd be making me cross constantly." He said the last word as he leaned over toward her, his hands in his pockets, and his face lit up in amusement.

If she didn't know better she would have thought he was flirting with her!

"Hmph," was all she said in response. "Let's go buy our son some sports supplies," she said, hoping he would look cross at her choice of phrasing. Instead, he looked a bit taken aback.

"Our son," he mused. "That is definitely something I'll have to get used to."

Elodie should have said, 'it's all fake, anyway.' She didn't, though.

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Elodie spun out of the Floo at the Leaky Cauldron with a bit more grace than her first time, but not much. She managed to compose herself before Remus arrived, at least.

As they left the building, Remus reached down and grasped her hand with his, the action surprising enough that her pulse leapt at his touch and she sucked in a breath. All of a sudden, her anxiety level skyrocketed. They hadn't talked about this! How were the two of them going to pretend to be in love and happily married if they didn't coordinate in some way? It was going to be obvious to everyone that-

"Ellie," Remus whispered, stopping her and pulling their joined hands up to his lips. He kissed her hand, and whispered to her, obscured by their hands. "Breathe. You are naturally loving. It won't take much. I am naturally shy. The fact that I'm not pushing you away will be proof enough. So breathe, dear friend. Breathe."

"Oh, Remus, I'm sorry, I'm a wreck," she said aloud, leaning over and resting her forehead on his chest. He chuckled, and she felt him shake with it. He kissed the top of her head, and they started walking again.

"Your anxiety attack was probably more persuasive than anything pre-planned, ironically enough," he said, squeezing their still-joined hands.

They stopped at the bookshop before the Quidditch supply store. Elodie was, as always, delighted that weight-lightening spells existed. When she'd handed him the fifth book she intended to buy, Remus made a mild comment about bookshelf space in their house, and Elodie quipped back about replacing him with an entirely new bookcase, since he seemed to be so expert at holding them.

Behind her, Elodie heard a woman say something about Harry Potter to her companion. Both of them stared at her, and Elodie re-shelved the book she'd been thinking about buying and went to tell Remus they were finished. He had added two books of his own, and they each tried to pay for all seven, holding out the coins to the flustered clerk.

"Excuse me?" Elodie turned to see the woman she'd seen earlier. "I'm so sorry to disturb you, but I saw your picture in the newspaper, I'm sure it was you! Are you the one who took in Harry Potter? You and your husband?"

"Oh!" Elodie said. "Yes. And, drat, one second-" she turned to see Remus looking smug, being handed back change. "That shouldn't count, I was distracted!"

"You can buy them next time," he said, grinning.

"I'm sorry to be rude," Elodie said to the woman. "I was trying to pay for our books."

"It's good to read a lot around children. They spend too much time in the air on their brooms, these days! I just wanted to say that I'm pleased that Harry is living with magic folk, now, and to wish you well."

"Oh, well, thank you," Elodie said, unsure of how to react.

"Edmund is Muggle-born, you see." The woman gestured to the man standing beside her. "You-Know-Who killed his parents when he was at Hogwarts, before he was defeated. There were rumors they were going to kill his sister; she got custody of him. But he was defeated a month later. Saved Edmund's life, Harry did. I'll always be grateful!" The woman had tears in her eyes.

"I'm sorry to hear that, thank you," Remus said solemnly.

"You were ahead of me, I think. Hufflepuff," the man said. "You four were something else!"

"Edmund O'Flaherty?" Remus guessed.

"That's it! Good of you to remember. My daughter's on the Hufflepuff school team. She's mentioned how good Harry is at dodging her," the man said proudly.

"He was born to fly," Remus said, nodding. "We're off to the supply shop. Very nice to see you again."

The four of them exchanged respectful head nods and Elodie and Remus left the shop.

"That wasn't so bad," she observed. "I love that you recognized him!"

"Yes, well, he was a bit more memorable than some of his classmates." Remus ran a hand through his hair. "I caught him smoking quite often. Most magical children avoid cigarettes."

In the Quidditch shop, there was a commotion at the back of the store. Elodie could hear the sound of a very imperious young person, ordering the staff about.

"-must have new robes as Prefect! No, not that one!"

"Something tells me that is not a Hufflepuff student," Elodie whispered to Remus. He laughed.

They took quite a while in the shop; Elodie was loathe to rush Remus through the store, as he enjoyed looking at all of the new inventions since he'd been able to care about the sport. By the time they had finished buying Harry a new pair of gloves and gotten a few other things like a new broom repair kit, almost an hour had passed.

They had another thirty minutes or so before they ought to start thinking about dinner, and Elodie suggested window shopping and a walk before they Apparated back home. Remus agreed, but he seemed distracted.

Five minutes later, he touched her arm to get her attention.

"A former student seems to be tailing us," he said. "His father was a Death Eater, and Harry has often clashed with him at school. I anticipate trouble."

"Thanks for telling me," Elodie said. She lifted up on her tiptoes and kissed Remus on his cheek, giving herself a view of the street behind him.

Draco Malfoy was conspicuously looking into the window of a quill shop. Elodie burst out laughing, dropping back down and covering her mouth with a hand.

"What?"

"He's pretending to look at quills. Which I'm sure he is absolutely interested in," Elodie said. "Should we give him a tour of the most boring shops in the Alley?"

"Let's," Remus said, grinning.

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Elodie stared at her wardrobe in complete and utter despair.

Should she wear a sexy dress? Did she own a sexy dress? It wasn't near full moon week, but would something like that cause Remus trouble when it came full again? She groaned.

The restaurant they'd decided on was a well-known one on Diagon. Apparently, given how easy Apparition and Floo travel was, and the fact that telephones weren't a thing, restaurants that took reservations expected witches and wizards to drop by in person to reserve a table. This one was known for mediterranean cuisine and required heels, skirts, and suits as a dress code. Remus told her that it had only started allowing reservations from non-Purebloods twenty years before.

Given the way the man they spoke to looked at her long skirt, she knew that trying to wear something similar when they came back was out of the question. That took most of her skirts out of the running.

"Calm down, it's not as if you can't just modify something you already own! They probably don't have detection wards up for that… or do they?" she said out loud.

It would be a snooty restaurant thing to do, though, Elodie realized. She was going to have to find something to wear that she already owned instead of altering something.

At least with a wand, Elodie would be able to zip her own dress up and clasp her own jewelry. So the gods of the cinematic universe could go fuck themselves.

Cinematic universe, hmm, she thought to herself.

Elodie dug her hand back into the deep recesses of the wardrobe. Her clothes had all been moved into this space by Sirius when she was in St. Mungo's. Since then, she'd found a few articles that she didn't recognize, things that she assumed Sirius had bought at some Muggle second-hand clothes shop while under his magical disguise. Would he have ever bothered to buy her a dress, though?

And if he had, it surely wouldn't be appropriate for a fancy restaurant! That was not the sort of place Sirius Black would ever want to be caught in, especially not the kind that would have admitted him with zero issues back in the 70's when they only accepted Purebloods.

Elodie's hand caught on something that felt like velvet. As far as she knew, she didn't own anything velvet, even though it was the 1990's, and velvet was definitely A Thing. Carefully, Elodie pulled the object free of the clothes around it until she pulled it free.

It was a velvet dress with a fitted bodice and a short skirt, a cocktail dress, fancy enough for the restaurant they were planning on going to. The sleeves were sheer gauze fabric the same color as the dress, but the color seemed to be odd. It looked like it was flickering, as if the dress had been created one color and spelled imperfectly to another. Elodie cast a spell she'd learned from the first magical book she'd ever read, the one from Mellie's closet the day she'd arrived in this universe. It restored a piece of clothing to its original configuration, but it wouldn't work if the piece had been messed with too much, magically.

After the spell, the true beauty of the dress was evident. It was a gorgeous emerald green, and Elodie loved it. She suspected that Sirius had indeed bought it for her, hated the green, and spelled it crimson, months ago. Elodie didn't have any personal grudge against Slytherin green, even if her boyfriend did, but there was one thing she was worried about.

Would Sirius be upset if she wore this dress for Remus?

It wasn't really for Remus, though. It was really for Harry, when you got right down to it. And Elodie wanted to wear this dress. It seemed like it had been designed for her, and given the way this universe worked, it might well have been.

There was a knock on the door.

"Elodie, I promise, you will look beautiful no matter what you wear, but Karavas Majicka will give away our table if we're not there in five minutes," Remus called out.

Elodie was still in her underwear, her hair undone, with no makeup on.

"No worries!" she answered gaily.

"You don't fool me, Ellie. Just get dressed, all right?"

Elodie stuck her tongue out at the door, and started putting on the gorgeous dress Sirius had bought for her. She shoved down the pangs of guilt by reminding herself that Sirius's primary goal was always Harry's welfare, and if Harry's new guardians were seen at a restaurant at Diagon, that was probably a good thing.

The sparkly book that Elodie had once transfigured into Pride and Prejudice had 'to-go' hairdos and makeup spells, and Elodie opened the door fully dressed, shoes and all, four minutes and twelve seconds after Remus had told her she wasn't fooling him.

She walked right past him and toward the Floo, but when she got there, she was surprised to see he hadn't followed her.

"Remus?" she called out, looking toward the hallway.

"Coming," he said a few seconds later.

Elodie bit her lip when Remus walked into view. He was wearing an actual suit, and it fit him very well- it almost looked tailored. His tie was white, but when he walked up to her, he tapped his wand on her shoulder, then onto his tie, and it magically changed color to match her dress.

"You look very handsome in that suit," Elodie said.

"Yes, it's tailored. The newspaper paid for it," Remus said, answering her unasked question.

"I didn't say anything!" she protested.

He finally turned to look at her. "You were thinking it."

"Unfair to use your knowledge of me to your advantage," she said, and stepped into the Floo.

"Unfair, but exactly what your husband would do," he whispered in her ear on the other side a second later.

"True," she agreed.

They made it to the restaurant a minute late, but the approving look in the eye of the maitre d made Elodie feel better. Their table was near the window, and Elodie raised an eyebrow at Remus, but he shook his head. When they'd been left with their menus, he told her he hadn't asked for that particular spot.

"You have to admit it's got its own charm, even if it isn't in a secluded corner," Elodie said, gesturing to the view of witches and wizards walking past in various kinds of clothing, all enjoying the warm summer weather. "I wasn't trying to be rude about your suit," she added, hiding behind her menu.

"I'm self-conscious about it. I would much rather have had the money to spend on an entire wardrobe, truth be told."

"Well, you look fantastic," Elodie said, grinning behind her menu. He couldn't chastise her with his facial expressions if she couldn't see them.

"And you look gorgeous," he said in a low, quiet voice. Elodie felt like she might just wake up in New England the next morning, with all her dreams fulfilled. She had newer, better dreams, now, but holy shit had Elodie always wanted to be told that by Remus Lupin, dating back to nearly the first moment that she'd read about him.

Elodie lowered her menu.

Remus's menu was laid in front of him, and he was reading it with the studiousness Elodie would expect from Hermione Granger.

"Thank you," she said, not sure if she was grateful or not grateful that he wouldn't look at her.

They sat in silence until they ordered, and Elodie felt the uncomfortable tension building between them until she excused herself to go to the restroom. In the stall, instead of using the toilet, Elodie rested her head on the wall and tried to decide if she wanted to burst into tears or shake herself all over. What was wrong with them all of a sudden? They were the same people! They were just wearing pretty clothes!

She wondered if it had to do with the expectations weighing on them. They were under a lot of pressure, after all, and neither of them liked to pretend they were fancy people. Maybe they just needed to cut the tension.

Elodie did not cry, but she did splash some water on her face to try to cool down the permanent blush she seemed to be wearing. Her dress made her feel like she was on display, and she felt like she was enjoying Remus's compliments a little too much. His suit was not helping, either.

This is getting away from me, she realized. Is there an anti-love potion? Would I be principled enough to take it?

Elodie walked back to the table and when Remus noticed her, he stood up. She smiled apologetically, and he pulled her seat out for her. When she sat down, he leaned over and kissed her lightly. She hadn't been prepared, hadn't guarded her heart or her body against him, and she reached up and tangled her hand in his tie, keeping his mouth on hers for a bit longer. When he pulled back, he touched her face, his thumb brushing her cheek before he went to sit down.

Elodie opened her mouth to say something, not that she was sure what it would be, but Remus reached out his hand to touch hers where it rested on the table.

"Don't, we needed to cut the tension," he said, his lips twisting into a wry smile. "It was starting to look like we were on a blind date, I think."

"A little," she said, granting him a small smile. Change the subject! she told herself worriedly, but Remus was ahead of her.

"I figured out what was wrong," he said.

"Oh?"

"You hid your scars."

"Oh, that," she said, laughing uneasily. "I didn't want to, but I didn't really have time to figure out whether they would look okay with the dress. You know, because it's obvious what they are. Scars from a mistake."

"I think they would have been fine, but it's your choice," he said. He tipped his head to the side, clearly curious about something. "Are you ashamed of them?"

"Not really," she said, quickly. "I only think of them that way when I imagine someone I don't trust looking at them, I suppose. Or when I worry that someone will think I haven't hidden them because I'm too stupid to understand I ought to, or too weak a witch to be able to."

He looked like he didn't like her answer, but then said, "Those are logical points. I might be too biased to be impartial, though. They're a part of you, and you don't seem quite you without them."

"Is there a spell that hides things like that from strangers, but not loved ones?" Elodie wondered.

Their food arrived, and the two of them were distracted for the next few minutes, long enough that Elodie had almost forgotten what she'd asked.

"There is, but those spells are almost always for spouses," Remus said, almost too quietly to be heard.

Elodie looked around at the waitstaff hovering at nearby tables, fearful of being overheard. Remus must have seen her expression, because he shook his head decisively.

"Have you ever eaten at a magical restaurant like this before?" he asked her. She shook her head. "Look at the candle in the center of the table, then look at neighboring ones."

She looked at their candle, which had a cheerful golden glow. When she looked around the room, she saw a pattern, however. The candles at tables with a member of the staff standing beside them were glowing red.

"Automatic Muffliato. The presence of a particular spell cast on the employees cause the candle to change in color, and dampen the Muffliato. I also cast an amplifier, just in case their spellwork is lacking," Remus explained. "It may take the waiter a few seconds to break through, so don't be surprised if you can't hear them right away, and vice versa. Less expensive restaurants use less fancy conventions, but they're all the same idea."

"Thank you for explaining," Elodie said. She felt, as ever, delighted and overwhelmed by the complexity of the magic that underpinned the world she loved so much. It wouldn't have been relevant, of course, but she was sad that more of it didn't work its way into the books.

"I didn't mean to derail your thought, though. Just reassure you that our conversation is private," Remus told her.

"I was just going to say that I suppose I ought to read more about magical marriage, or I'm bound to put my foot in it," she said, making a face. "And considering I'm meant to be planning one, it would at least be in character."

Remus looked like he was about to make a joke, but stopped himself. He looked down at his plate and Elodie waited to change the subject, just in case he changed his mind. When he did speak, though, his expression was serious.

"If you don't mind my asking, you looked upset when you came to find Sirius. What did Albus say to you?"

"Oh, shit, I forgot to tell you!" Elodie said, dropping the falafel she'd been about to bite into. She told Remus about the way the Ministry interfered in Albus's hiring decision, and how he'd suggested the two of them go to Madame Pomfrey and request her help with a ward to let them know if Harry was hurt. "He asked if we would go to see her tomorrow. I haven't given you much warning, I'm sorry!"

He reached across the table and squeezed her hand. "It's fine. Fifteen hours is more warning than fifteen minutes. It's a good plan."

"You're sure?" she asked.

"I'm sure. Though, are there any other visions I ought to know about, now that we're on the subject? Have there been any about me?" he asked, his tone light, the kind of teasing someone makes when they don't expect a serious answer.

She looked down at her plate, taking her fork and slowly moving the puddle of hummus away from another food she didn't want it to touch.

"Elodie? Have you?" Remus asked again, the teasing tone gone entirely. "Have you had a vision of Padfoot?"

Elodie closed her eyes. What kind of a woman was she in this moment, hating the thought of Remus standing next to a glowingly happy Nymphadora Tonks at the altar almost as much as Sirius falling through the Veil? She was a piece of shit in that moment, she felt. And Remus still wanted an answer.

She reached for her glass of wine, but when she went to pick it up, it was stuck fast to the table. Elodie looked up at Remus in alarm, and saw that he was setting his wand back down beside his plate.

"What have you Seen, Elodie?" he asked her, a thread of anger in his voice now. She knew it was because she had ignored him, but it hurt, because she didn't know an answer that didn't sound like she was speaking in riddles. No matter what she said, she was going to make him upset. He was clever to force her to look at him by meddling with the wine glass, but somehow that made it worse. He was too clever, and she didn't want to deceive him.

Elodie took a deep breath to calm her nerves and prevent herself from speaking impulsively.

"Forgive me, Remus. I don't… the way my mind works isn't very organized, you see. And what I've seen, or perhaps better that I capitalize it as Seen-" and Elodie emphasized the word to denote the difference, -are snippets of events without much context. The ones that are easiest remembered are dramatic, but it's possible I've Seen things that I've dismissed as irrelevant. I don't have a, a file folder in my mind of them, is what I'm trying to say."

I don't have a digital copy of the books, either, though I sure as hell wish I did, sometimes, she thought to herself. Not that I'd have any way to charge the device I could read them on!

He smiled in a self-deprecating way. "Yet, I know you, Ellie, and something tells me that things you've Seen about Molly Weasley aren't in the same league as what you've Seen about the people you live with, hmm?"

"Fair enough," she said.

"Your reaction was far more telling than you'd have wanted it to be, I think," he said, taking a long drink from his wine glass. She reached for hers, lifting her eyebrows to ask if he'd released it. He nodded, and she started to drink, swallowing once, twice, until Remus cleared his throat, but she didn't stop, and soon the entire full glass was gone. "Elodie, this is hardly-"

"Yes, I have," she answered, ruthlessly suppressing the burp that threatened to mar her already embarrassing display further. The wine was potent, and she felt a lightness in her veins that wasn't unpleasant.

"Well?" Remus pushed, setting his fork down, pulling his napkin from his lap and setting it on the table.

The wine succeeded where her sense of self-control had not. "You get married. You have a son."

Remus stared at her in complete shock.

"That's… not possible!" he whispered. Then, in an almost frightened voice, he added, "I thought everything you have Seen has come true so far. The riot, Moody in the trunk, the trouble in the maze at the Third Task-"

"I never said I Saw anything about the Third Task!" Elodie objected.

He shot her a withering look. "It was obvious. I have always assumed there are things you See that you don't tell us about, and instead try to prevent or alter more subtly," he said.

It was Elodie's turn to be stunned. It was so easy for her to forget that the people she had first been introduced to as characters in a book, as seen from the perspective of a child, were fully-fledged adults with complete autonomy. She'd been keeping secrets, but so had Remus, it appeared.

"They've all come true," he repeated, looking dumbfounded.

"This one won't," Elodie said. "It can't."

"Why not?" he asked.

"She's with someone else."


((If you google '90's velvet dress' the one I describe should be one of the first results, if you're curious!))