A loud THWACK! Startled Luna as Remus emerged, covered in soot, from her fireplace. He coughed lightly and stepped out, smiling his usual wolfish grin. Luna smiled back, aiming a cleaning spell and gave him a hug, trying not to laugh at how miraculous he looked. Remus was currently clad in gray suit pants and a brownish purple button up shirt, nearly the exact same thing as Luna. They parted and stared at each other, each one trying to contain themselves and their laughter. Luna laughed first, lightly and sunnily, and soon Remus was chuckling gaily as well.
"Hello Remus, it has been a while since I last cured all your pains." Luna grinned. "Yes, it's been to long I'm afraid and I believe it was I that was the pain when we last met." Remus laughed again.
"Come on in, I've got some tea brewing right now." Luna waved him into the kitchen which glowed with sunlight.
"I see that you've changed a few things. The house looks completely new, and it's so much more open." Remus said in wonder, while sitting next to the fire in his favorite chair.
"Yes," Luna placed the tea tray on the table, "You'll have to thank my father's house elves and Ginny for that. We changed everything so that Harry can visit and I can live comfortably. I've had the third floor apartment set up for you. It should be ready momentarily." Genevieve popped up beside her.
"All done Mistress Lovegood! I'm going into town to get food now, any special requests?" Luna smiled and picked up a spare piece of parchment and a quill.
"Let's see now, I'd like some raspberries, a few yellow bell peppers, fat free milk, some quills, more ink…Remus? Do you want anything?" He pondered this for a moment and spoke,
"Hmm, just some Earl Gray tea I suppose, and maybe some black licorice." Luna smiled and handed the list to Genevieve.
"Here you go dear, be sure to take Jacque with you and get all of the normal things we usually get." Genevieve blushed upon hearing Jacque's name and merely squeaked shyly, "Yes Miss Lovegood, be back soon!" Once she had disappeared Remus let out a small laugh,
"What's this about Jacque, is he another house elf of yours or what?" Luna smiled, "Genevieve has always liked him, he was my father's house elf, so now that they both work for me they see each other more often. I just know that they like each other, so I let them go out together occasionally." She giggled and sipped her tea. Remus nodded and patiently watched her, wondering how in the world she was happier now then he had ever seen her. After all she had been through; it seemed to only change her for the better. Neville's death, her house being burnt to the ground, and Snape blaming her for all his problems throughout the war. She was less mysterious now that they had become friends, and yet she still seemed to have a mystical ora which floated with her wherever she went.
"So, I heard that you need help with The Quibbler, what can I do to help?" He asked lightly. Luna smiled,
"I need someone to help me write a few articles here and there and double check my editing. Would you be interested?" She smiled and poured more tea into her cup.
"Certainly, it's not very different than what I've been doing since after the war." He blew softly across his mug, trying to cool his tea slightly before drinking.
"What have you been doing? I haven't seen you since Harry's birthday party last year." She gazed into her mug, watching the tea leaves swirl about.
"Well, I edited Harry's book, and I managed to land a job at The Daily Prophet until I got too sick to continue. That's why Harry sent me here, to recover." He sighed and gazed out the window which opened out to a tiny rose garden.
"What happened? Did The Prophet fire you because you're a werewolf?!" Luna set her mug down fiercely, wondering how the world had tried to torture Remus.
"No, no, I was attacked by Grayback while working on a story about the tavern that was rebuilt and commemorated to Dumbledore just after the war. Grayback managed to somehow arrange an attack the day I arrived. I was in St. Mungo's for six months. That's why no one's seen me. They couldn't identify me until last week." Luna gasped,
"Was it really that bad!? Are you still in pain? Oh Jesus Remus what did he do to you?!" Luna stood up, in shock and moved directly in front of him.
"It's not bad now Luna, I'm fine. I just have to recover and take it easy for awhile. If the situation had been truly bad I wouldn't be here now would I?" Remus took her hand and squeezed it gently. "Now, how about you? What have you been up to all this time?" He asked gently.
"Well, we buried my father and we cremated Neville…His ashes are with his grandmother. I've taken full ownership and amassed a small fortune through The Quibbler; we're right next to The Prophet in the number of readers. People have started writing stories and sending them in…it's like a community newspaper were everyone contributes and I'm excited to see how my readers will react now that it's just me and them holding this together. By publishing Harry's story during my second year, the people have really started reading! So, I've just been seeing old friends and working I guess…" She sighed, "I'm happy that you've come Remus, it was getting lonely here without everyone from Hogwarts. God, I miss it so much…I wonder what's going on there. It was really nice of Minerva to get me a private tutor so that I could finish up my advanced classes and get a full education. I guess that I was the only kid way ahead of my class when I graduated. But still, it's nice to have some freedom now, instead of having to rush off somewhere else each day for another class." She gazed off, lost in her memories. "Oh, sorry." She shook her head and tucked her hair behind her right ear. "Why don't you go and unpack? I have some things to take care of around the house before dinner." She smiled and cleared the tea tray. "I'll send Genevieve up with your tea and licorice later." Remus smiled and handed her his mug.
"Thank you Luna, you have truly grown up while I was gone." With that, he headed up to the third floor apartments nervous to see what remained of Sirius', and now his own, private rooms.