Note: This is dedicated to XFutureMrsCrawfordX, I hope this is fast enough for you!
This chapter is much shorter than usual, sorry about that! It is also a piece of unadulterated FLUFF, with some FLUFF thrown in. I was just in that sort of mood, sorry!
Besides, what's point of keeping Remus and Tonks alive if I can't throw in a chapter like this once in a while? No point at all, that's what! =)
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, nor am I making any profit from this piece of writing.
12: Through the Fence
Carrie skipped the last leg of her journey home that afternoon, past the little green where she and Teddy had played on the swing, round the corner and up her road. She let herself inside, dumped her bag down upon the floor and announced her triumphant arrival to the house at large.
"Good day, Carrie love?" her mother's voice called back from inside the study. As Carrie bounded down the hallway towards the kitchen she declared:
"It was GREAT!"
"Well that's wonderful, love." came the reply. "But d'you think you could keep the noise down a little? I'm on the phone to your Auntie Susan. There's hot chocolate on the counter for you."
With a shout of thanks that constituted no effort whatsoever to be quieter, Carrie skidded into the kitchen to retrieve her mug of hot chocolate, before heading out into the garden to make the most of the last of the summer sunshine.
She sat down upon one of her mother's garden chairs and, for some minutes, simply watched the world go by. Then, as it often did when she was sat doing little besides getting lost in her thoughts, Carrie found her gaze drifting over to the garden fence that separated her garden from the Lupins' next door.
Carrie wondered what they were up to, if Mrs. Lupin had been brewing magic potions, or how many objects Mr. Lupin had made fly that day. She wondered if Mrs. Lupin was at home, or at work chasing after bad guys, tripping them to the floor with a flick of her wand.
Carrie wanted to tell them about the fierce teenager who had rescued her from the bullies at the school gates, and about her stroke of genius in claiming she was a relation. But of course, she reminded herself, she could not simply go knocking on their door and invite herself in for another cup of tea. Now that Teddy was away she had no right to disturb them. They were adults, after all, it didn't matter how friendly they were, they wouldn't want her hanging around their house.
The prospect of going a whole entire term without glimpsing little shows of magic was a dull one, and so when Carrie heard a door opening from somewhere over the fence, she abandoned the last of her hot chocolate and hurried over to the wooden partition, ready to pop her head over and call a polite greeting to whoever had stepped outside.
That was until she heard Mrs. Lupin's voice announce:
"Oh come on! Don't look at me like that!"
Instead, Carrie dropped into a crouch and found the nearest little gap in the fence, pressing her head against it so that she could peer into the garden next door.
And there, stood in the doorway leading into her neighbors kitchen, was Cousin Roxie, ring-laden hands on hips as she offered the wizard who was sat in a garden chair a triumphant smirk.
Carrie watched Mr. Lupin look Roxie up and down, taking in the clumpy boots, hole-laden fishnet tights, and faded, fraying denim miniskirt with a raised eyebrow. The undersized t shirt and leather biker jacket led him to purse his lips together into a very thin line, and the piercings, eyeliner and bleached hair made him squeeze his eyes firmly closed before he looked determinedly down at the book that he had been reading.
"Admit it!" Roxie announced as she launched herself down the small couple of steps leading onto the patio. "I look awesome!"
"Believe me, Dora." Mr. Lupin murmured, determinedly turning a page as his wife swaggered towards him. "There are a great many number of words that I could use to describe you right now...and awesome isn't one of them..."
"Don't be dull!" Mrs. Lupin told him as she came to a halt in front of him and gave an exaggerated twirl. "Admit it, it was an awesome plan and a even more awesome disguise!"
Mr. Lupin's eyes did not leave the pages of his book, and Carrie was sure that his grip upon the arm of his chair visibly tightened.
"There is no way, not in a million years, that I'm going to condone you going around threatening groups of school children." he informed his wife somewhat icily, only for her to reach forward to pluck the book from his hands.
"Yes, yes, I know, I know! You don't approve! I get it, Remus, you've only told me about a million times already! Let's be honest though love, since when have I ever actually listened to a word you say?"
In response, the witch found the book yanked from her hands by an invisible force and Carrie watched with a grin as it landed neatly upon Mr. Lupin's lap.
"I'm only joking!" Mrs. Lupin protested as he began to search for the page he had been reading.
"She's not your daughter. It has nothing to do with you..."
"This from the man who broke Wizarding Law and made her a Marauders' Map!"
"So she can help herself! Either she learns to help herself or she goes and tells her own parents and they sort it out..."
"Have you met her parents, Remus?"
"More often than you have, as it happens. And anyway, you can't just go around threatening people..."
"Technically I didn't threaten them, I just said I'd be watching them, if they think that means I'm going to pound their faces into mush that's really the fault of their imaginations..."
"They're CHILDREN, Dora!"
"Yes, Remus, they are. Do you know what else they are? Nasty little shits who don't know the meaning of the word bully. If they did they'd straighten themselves out sharpish before they upset the wrong person. Carrie shouldn't have to put up with them, we've enough proper bullies in the world without a bunch of fakes too." When her husband merely gave a resigned sigh, she observed: "We're not going to come to any form of agreement on this, are we?"
"Probably not." he admitted, abandoning his flicking through the book and setting it down upon the little garden table. He eyed her attire again for a long moment before consenting: "Except, perhaps, that it was a rather brilliant disguise."
"You think so?"
"Oh yes! I certainly wouldn't mess with you."
His supposedly teenaged wife took a few stomping steps forwards until there were precious few millimeters between them, leaning down to thrust her face towards his, stopping just short of headbutting him in the forehead.
"Go on," Carrie heard her murmur, struggling to keep a straight face. "Mess with me, I dare you!"
The wizard regarded her for moment with pursed lips.
"Only if you drop the morph first." he decided at last, causing the witch to smirk.
"Am I making you feel old?" she asked, hands upon his knees to steady herself, and his gaze drifted skywards as he admitted:
"Old and probably more than slightly perverted."
The witch threw back her head and let out a shout of laughter, and as she did so Carrie watched in awe as her hair lengthened and shifted until it was a soft shade of pink.
And quite suddenly, Roxie didn't look like Roxie anymore.
"Better?" Mrs. Lupin asked, and the wizard seemingly sighed with relief.
"Better." he agreed, but when she leaned towards him again he added: "But if you think I'm going to kiss you when you've pieces of metal protruding from your face you've got another thing coming. You could do me injury, you know."
She puffed her cheeks in exasperation, but nevertheless consented to drawing her wand from...Carrie wasn't entirely sure where...and with a rather vague wave the countless piercings and spikes disappeared into thin air, all except for the dark metal nose ring.
Mr. Lupin folded his arms across his chest, expression unchanged.
"I'll have you know that you took me out on at least three dates when I had a nose stud!" his wife informed him pointedly, and he gave a stubborn shrug.
"I was clinging onto the notion that it was just a faze you were going through...and besides...that was a small stud not a stupidly oversized..."
"Fine, fine, fine! I'm just messing with you!" Another wave of her wand later and Mrs. Lupin's face was void of all forms of metal. She straightened up and folded her arms across her chest to match him as she recalled: "You told me it looked pretty."
Again, Mr. Lupin shrugged, eyes darting sideways to avoid her gaze that was still framed by a formidable mass of black eyeliner.
"Of course I did...it...it did look pretty..."
"Liar."
"Just because I didn't like it doesn't mean it wasn't pretty. That's the maddening thing about you, Dora, you always look pretty. Even when you're dressed up like a teenaged punk hooker..."
"A what?"
"...it's bloody awful."
The pink haired witch's pose instantly slackened as she dissolved into laughter again, reaching to grab hold of her husband by the hands and give his arms a firm tug to persuade him up onto his feet.
"Is that...supposed to be...a compliment...or an insult?" she managed to choke out between her laughter, and as she flung her arms around his neck and attempted to smother her hysterics in the front of his jumper, Mr. Lupin frowned bemusedly.
"I'm not sure." he mumbled, wrapping his arms somewhat carefully about her waist.
Finally stifling her laughing fit, the witch withdrew her face from the folds of his jumper and looked up at him, grinning broadly.
"I'm almost as tall as you in these shoes." she observed, and they both looked down at the clumpy platform boots.
"They're ridiculous." Mr. Lupin decided as she looked back up at him, grin as wide as ever.
"I like them!"
"Me too." He reached to smooth her disheveled hair, which since its sudden growth spurt seemed determined to stick out at odd, messy angles. "Though how you managed to make it back from Oakhurst in one piece whilst wearing them is a complete mystery to me..."
"Don't be such a git, Remus!" his wife demanded, withdrawing an arm from around his neck just long enough that she could give him a firm slap upon the arm. When he simply chuckled under his breath, her grip around his neck seemed to tighten until it was something akin to a strangle hold.
"Shut up and gimme a kiss, then!" she said expectantly, and Carrie immediately turned her back upon the fence, not wanting to intrude any longer.
She did, however, hear Mrs. Lupin's fresh burst of laughter, not to mention Mr. Lupin's mortified protest of:
"That was utterly revolting and downright unnecessary!"
"You can't complain!" Mrs. Lupin's voice half sang triumphantly as Carrie heard her hasty retreat towards the back door. "You said no metal on my face! And that wasn't on my face at all, was it?"
As she headed back inside her own house, giggling quietly at Mr. Lupin's loud announcement that he would no longer be cooking dinner that evening (I've just lost my appetite!), the muggle was pretty sure that she had never come across a family as unique as the Lupins, magical or otherwise.
She wished her parents were more like them.