Who's Ben?

Remus looked around the room, taking in everything that surrounded him. The bedroom was decorated in warm colors; white and creme, brown and red, pink and yellow, making the room always seem bright, reminding Remus of the occupant of the room. Light was cast into the room through its many windows that overlooked the vast green backyard with the beach and ocean beyond it. There was a large bed in the corner with a poufy, white down comforter on it and a large closet on the far wall. Remus looked around at the many photographs on the walls and shelves in both black and white and color. He was in quite a few of them, as were Lily, Sirius, and James. There were also alot of Dora's muggle friends that Remus has been introduced to at parties or while lounging on the beach that summer.

Remus was currently waiting for Dora to return from helping her mom put away some groceries from earlier that day. She had told him it wouldn't take long and that she should just wait up here for her. Remus was visiting Dora for a week or so over the summer before their seventh and final year at Hogwarts. Remus really didn't like to think about their final year at school. He was excited to be a seventh year, but nervous for what would happen after that. Admissions staff members from the top Auror training colleges in the world were already contacting Dora about her impressive resume she sent to them. Remus, on the other hand, had absolutley no idea what he was going to do after Hogwarts. He had the grades to get into some of the best wizarding colleges around, so he wasn't too worried.

Remus continued to look around the bedroom, smiling softly to himself. It was just so...Tonks and Remus enjoyed just soaking everything in. He felt so much closer to Dora whenever they spent time in her room together because it was her and he loved anything that had to do with her. Remus was looking at some pictures when one caught his eye.

It was of a boy that Remus recognized but couldn't think of his name, and Dora. The boy's arm was wrapped tightly around Dora and they both had large smiles of their faces. They looked a lot younger, maybe when Dora was in her second or third year at Hogwarts, so she had known Remus, but not very well. It was night time in the picture and there was a bonfire in the background with a couple of people sitting in chairs around it. Dora was wearing a gray tank top and jeans with a bright blue bathing suit underneath and her hair was still wet. Remus picked the picture up and saw there was a note written on the back. Just a little something to remember me by and our stargazing session :) Don't forget me at school! - Ben.

Remus racked his brain to try and remember this Ben. He did look a little familiar, had Dora introduced them at a party this summer? And who was he to Dora? An ex-boyfriend? A childhood crush?

Remus was thinking this over while looking at the picture when he heard a voice from down the hallway.

"Nymph, when is dad getting home, I need his help with..." Dora's younger sister Lyra entered the room and upon seeing Remus gave out a little squeal and said flustered, "Oh! Sorry, I forgot you were here."

Remus smiled at her. "It's okay. Your sisters' downstairs, she should be back soon," he said to her.

"Oh, okay," Lyra said as she backed out of the room. Remus couldn't help but smiling at how completley different she was from her older sister. Lyra was quiet and shy, especially when Dora had friends or Remus at the house. Remus wasn't surprised she had forgotten he was there. As soon as Remus showed up she quickly dashed up to her book-filled room and hadn't emerged for the past few hours. As different as Dora and Lyra were, they were extremley close and trusted each other deeply. Suddenly, Remus thought of something.

"Wait, Lyra!" he said to her and she turned around, startled and looked at him with the same intense green eyes she shared with her sister. "Who's Ben?" he asked her holding up the picture.

Lyra furrowed her eyebrows together in yet another very Dora-like expression of confusion. She stared back at the picture for a few seconds before saying, "Oh, Ben! Yeah, he and Nymph were good friends a while back, but they kinda grew apart when she started Hogwarts. Lost touch I guess."

"Were they ever, you know, together?" he asked her.

"I think they had a thing, they never really got together though," she replied. Remus nodded, looking back at the picture. "You know, he was her first kiss," Lyra added and then gasped, covering her mouth with her hand. "Oh no, I shouldn't have said that..." Remus looked sharply up at her.

"Really? What happened?" he asked. Strange, Remus thought, how he really didn't want to know about his girlfriend's ex-whatever's or her first kiss, but he couldn't help himself from asking.

"God, I really shouldn't be telling you this...I'm pretty sure it was the night the picture was taken. I remember Nymph telling me about it, she was so nervous, or excited, I couldn't really tell. Anyway, she said they had just gone swimming at a friend's bonfire over the summer. I guess they were on the roof of a shed at the guy's house, looking for shooting stars when it happened," Lyra said.

Well that explained the note on the back, Remus thought to himself as Lyra muttered, "Merlin, she's going to murder me if she finds out I told you."

"Don't worry, I won't say anything," Remus told her distracted. So this was the guy. The one guy that a girl never forgets. Her first kiss. Did she really carry out his wish? Had she remembered about him all her years at school? Dora never mentioned him once, and Remus is pretty sure she's never written him while at school. Even when they went to the first party of the summer, she was excited to see all of her old friends, but never paid extra attention to one particular person. Remus was no psychologist, but he was pretty sure that girls never really forgot about their first kiss giver.

As if reading his thoughts (another trait she shared with her older sister) Lyra said, "Remus, I wouldn't even think twice about this guy. This was years ago, she hasn't mentioned him since she met you. And trust me, as excited she was about him, it was nothing compared to how excited she was about you."

"Really?" Remus asked hopefully, looking up at her.

"Oh yeah. You have no idea how many nights she kept me up, just going on and on about you. Believe me Remus, you're the only one she thinks about now," Lyra said. She offered him a small smile and walked out of the room. Remus was deep in thought and didn't notice another person entering the room.

"Whatchya lookin' at?" a familiar voice said from the doorway.

Remus looked up quickly, startled by his girlfriend's entrance. She walked up to him and wrapped her arms around his waist, pulling herself in close and gazing up at him with her green eyes.

Remus smiled and held the picture up. "Old boyfriend?" he asked.

Dora barley even glanced at the picture before saying,"Nah, just an old friend." She looked back up at Remus and brushed her lips against his softly. "Come on; let's go downstairs, I'm starving." She turned around and grabbed his hand, lacing her fingers with his own, pulling him out of the room. Remus smiled to himself as he saw the truth in Lyra's words. His Marauder pride swelled as Remus realized that he really was the only one Dora thought about.

Disclaimer

Anything that is recognizable from any of the Harry Potter books is property of J.K. Rowling and I make no profit from it.