"Do you understand me, Remus?"
"No! I don't! Why can't I go outside?"
"Because!" John Lupin booms, seemingly shaking the pictures from the walls. "I said so, and I'm your father! I command you to not go outdoors after dark! D'you hear me?"
Remus squashes his hands into his lap, nodding reluctantly. Didn't Pop know that the best time of the whole day is when the moon comes out? The full moon would be out next month, the last of the summer, and he has promised himself he would try to draw his own moonshadow in the dirt.
"Good. Now, son, you have to trust me on this."
"Why?"
"Because I know better than y'do, and-"
"No, why can't I go outside?"
John looks at his frustrated son, his mop of tawny hair scrambled atop his head. He reaches down to tousle it. "'S grownup things, Remus. You needn't go trying to find out. You'll only confuse yourself."
He evades his father's touch, swaying in the chair. "Can I go now?"
A sigh. "I suppose. Get along with you."
He leaps from the chair and races out the front door, the screen clanging behind him. Mary just shakes her head and bites her nails, worried.
"It'll all blow over, Mary," he says as he wraps his arms around his wife. "In a few months, we'll be able to send Remus outside whenever he wishes. Just—just not now, 'lright?"
She nods tearfully against his shoulder as he runs his hands over her back, shushing her.
-xxxxx-
"Remus. Remus!"
He sits up in bed, his pajamas rumpled and his covers on the floor. He looks around the room, but hears nothing. He starts to lay back down, but hears the voice again.
"Remus? Remus, answer me!"
"Wozzat?" he mumbles, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. "Whozzere?"
"Remus, you git, s'me! Sadie!"
He squints as he looks toward the edge of the bed once more. "What? Where're you?"
"Outside the window. C'mon, then."
He crawls out of bed and to the open window, and sure enough, there she is, her hair in braids and her nightgown on. "Come on then, out the portrait hole."
He hesitates as she starts to walk off. She turns to see him still sitting inside his room. "What ever is the matter with you? Get out the room an' onto this grass."
"Mum and Pop said-"
"Mum and Pop said what?"
"That I'm not t'be outside after dark anymore."
"Oh, bully. It'll be heaps of fun, and they said that ages ago! S'almost fall now! Come now, we'll be back before they could have even known y'left!"
Remus thinks on this for a moment, then grumbles something incoherent and crawls out of the window. She giggles and takes his hand, leading them out into the pasture.
"Where're we goin'?"
"To the swings."
"Why?"
"You'll see soon enough."
They walk slowly this time, the dark, cool night surrounding them. He looks up and beams at the moon. "Hey, Sadie?"
"Yeah?"
He looks down and notices she is holding his hand. He blushes madly. "Wanna draw moonshadows?"
"Perhaps in a bit. Right now, though, I wanna give y'present to you."
They walk quietly for a bit longer, the occasional owl hooting nearby. Remus walks in front of Sadie, her hands over his eyes as she requested. "Ta-da!"
She removes her hands and Remus sees the swing. He spins around to look at her. "What-?"
"Go on, then. Sit down."
He sits on the wooden plank and she begins pushing him. He kicks his feet energetically, and they quickly get a rhythm going. He sighs as he watches the pregnant moon float in the dark violet sky. "Wow."
"See? I told you the swings're nice."
"They really are," he says in awe, his eyes still locked upon the moon. "I should've trusted you."
"Yes, you should've. Soon, you'll learn I am always right."
He turns his head slightly and catches a glimpse of her in the pale moonlight. She has her head thrown back and she's laughing, stars erupting from her insides and hanging on the canopy of the sky. He tries to stop himself, but he can feel the words tumbling out of his mouth in a fervent heap.
"I love you."
She grabs the ropes and pulls him to a stop in front of her. Her mouth squeezes into a smile. "I love you, too, Remus. Thas' what mummies and daddies do, right?"
"Right," he grins. The heavy glow of the moon dims for a moment behind a moving cloud, and he can almost hear the slight crackle and pop in the twinkling of the stars.
Remus never heard him coming.