Chapter Seven – Fire and Rain

Now I've seen fire and I've seen rain,

I've seen sunny days that I thought would never end,

I've seen lonely times when I couldn't find a friend;

But I always thought that I'd see you again.

"Fire and Rain", James Taylor ~

Author's Note: Well, here it is! Chapter Seven! BUT…..There is going to be ANOTHER CHAPTER after this, because there was just too much to fit into this one chapter AND there is going to be an EPILOGUE, which will be in Teddy's POV!! Woohoo! Do I hear a chorus of 'yeses'?! I sure hope so!! This story just keeps on growing and growing – honestly, it was originally only meant to be five chapters and now it's going to be NINE – good heavens!! As always, PLEASE REVIEW at the end – your comments, however short, are always appreciated!:-)

Disclaimer: I own none of it. It all belongs to the amazingly talented JK Rowling. If I owned it, certain persons wouldn't have died….

The first few weeks of being Mrs Remus Lupin were the happiest of my life. Remus could be the most wonderful companion when he was happy and nothing made me happier than seeing him happy. We didn't do anything extravagant for our honeymoon as neither of us had much money, but I didn't mind. As long as I got to be with Remus, I didn't care where we went, and so I was more than thrilled with the little cottage in the countryside that a friend of my parents lent us for the fortnight. We spent the time going for long walks in the hills, sitting chatting by the fireside and well, you know….It was a lovely time, a time for making happy memories, and I will never forget it.

However, after our honeymoon, once we were back in society mixing with other witches and wizards again, things changed. It was subtle at first. I went to work at the Ministry and a few people looked at me funny. That was all. Nothing overt; just a few funny looks. I thought nothing about it initially – being a Metamorphmagus, I was used to being looked at funny on occasion. Granted, the witches and wizards I worked with should be used to it by now, but maybe they didn't like my current hair colour (a brilliant lime green) or something.

The next time I noticed something odd was when I went to Diagon Alley to buy some potions ingredients and out of the corner of my eye, I noticed a small gaggle of witches whispering amongst themselves and sending me covert glances every now and then. I ignored it at first, but when after five minutes they hadn't stopped and their looks had become more pointed, almost to the point of downright staring, I decided I had had enough, and stalking over to them, I demanded to know what their problem was. They looked a little intimidated at first, but then one of the taller witches, a regular hag (hooked nose and all), spoke up, saying in a rather cold voice, "Aren't you that Auror who married a werewolf?"

"Yes." I said. "What about it?"

"Well…A bit strange don't you think, someone who is meant to be fighting the Dark Arts and protecting us all going and marrying a werewolf, one of the darkest creatures out there? I mean, they kill people, don't you know." This last was a statement, not a question.

"Yes, I do know." I replied rather heatedly. "But Remus is not like that. He is a good werewolf. He takes Wolfsbane potion every month to control himself."

The witches snorted with derision in response to this. "A good werewolf?" one of them sneered. "There's no such thing. All werewolves are evil by nature and should be hunted down and finished off. They're not human after all."

I started at her in shock. How dare she say that Remus was not human and suggest that he be hunted down and killed? Just because he turned into a wolf every month did not make him an animal, anymore than an Animagus was an animal. I was so angry I was shaking and couldn't concoct a fitting reply (what sort of reply would be fitting to something like that anyway?). The witches laughed once again and walked away, leaving me feeling hurt and furious.

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After some careful consideration, I decided not to mention the unpleasant encounter to Remus – I knew that it would only serve to upset him and he had enough in his life to worry about as it was without this being added to it. It was no secret that my parents had not been too thrilled at our marriage and I didn't want him to have another reason to regret marrying me. And so I kept quiet and carried on with life as usual, hiding my hurt within myself and putting on a brave face to the world. After all, when I seriously thought about it, given the choice between being married to Remus and having my popularity back, I would choose Remus every time without a second's thought.

However, despite my silence on the subject and the cheerful front that I wore, Remus could not help but notice when we went out together anywhere that people looked at us strangely and went out of their way to avoid us. He didn't say anything about it to me but I could see the hurt in his eyes and I knew that it was seriously getting to him, as he grew progressively more withdrawn as the days went by. I didn't know what to say to him to make him feel better – he had heard it all before and frankly, we were both so busy with Order work that I didn't have time to worry about this as well. Then Mad-Eye Moody was killed in action and George Weasley was injured and all other worries flew out of my mind as they were replaced with the overriding concern that something might happen to Remus or myself. I worried about myself, not so much because I was scared of death – it had never been something that frightened me that much to be honest, but more because I was worried how Remus would cope if something happened to me and he was left behind. And I simply couldn't bear the thought of being the one left behind myself. And so secretly I hoped that if something did happen, we would both be taken together. It was a selfish hope I suppose, but I clung to it nonetheless.

And then something happened that made all other thought flee for cover and disappear into the recesses of my mind; something totally unexpected and unplanned for. Something that I had never even dreamed would happen to me, and yet when it did I wondered why I had never wanted it before. I discovered that I was pregnant.

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The discovery that I was going to have Remus' baby could not have made me more happy – my hair was changing colour everyday and I was simply bouncing with enthusiasm. However, when I told Remus….he was less than enthusiastic. He smiled at me weakly and said "That's wonderful news, dear" but I was not convinced. The only explanation for his reaction that I could come up with was that he probably thought that this was not really the best time to have a baby, what with our lives being in constant danger and all. And before I got pregnant, I would have been in absolute agreement with him. But now that I knew that I had a little life growing inside me, a little life that was half Remus and half me, all rational arguments against having a baby at such a time paled into insignificance, eclipsed by the overwhelming and wonderful fact that I was going to be a mother. Was I scared? Absolutely. Becoming a parent is a daunting thing. But would I have changed it given a choice? Not for the world. And as each day went by and it was one day closer to actually meeting my little baby in person, I could only become more and more excited and happy. I was blessed indeed.

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However, life sometimes really is too good to be true, and I experienced this depressing fact in several areas of my life. Firstly, the Minister for Magic, Rufus Scrimgeour, was murdered by Voldemort, and the Ministry was taken over by Death Eaters. As a half-blood, I should have been able to continue my work at the Ministry, but because I was married to one of the 'Undesirables' (a werewolf who was not actually intent on killing every human in sight), I was asked rather forcefully and rudely to resign. Ordered in fact. And so I lost my job; the career for which I had spent years of training and studying, and which before I met Remus was the greatest joy in my life. However, that I could handle. After all, I had been planning on taking maternity leave once the baby was born anyway. This just caused it to start earlier.

However, it is one thing for me to suffer personally – I can handle that. It is another thing altogether when my family gets hurt. After the Ministry fell and Harry, Ron and Hermione fled for safety, the protective spells set around the houses of various members of the Order and their families fell away, including those that had been set up around my parents' house. Because the Death Eaters were now in charge at the Ministry, they had the authority to openly use aggressive curses which would break the spells. They knew that Harry had gone to my parents' house when he had been chased by Voldemort and so that was their first port of call. They broke through the magical shields surrounding their house, and cornering them, five Death Eaters used the Cruciatus curse on my mother and father in order to ascertain Harry's whereabouts. Fortunately, my parents managed to convince the Death Eaters that they didn't know where Harry was and therefore they were left alive, albeit severely shaken up by the experience.

After my parents were tortured, Remus and I decided to stay with them for a while, so that we could look after them whilst they recovered. I was more than happy to be close to my parents as I tend to worry about the ones I love whenever they are out of sight and calling distance, especially in the current dangerous climate. And whilst house-keeping is certainly not my gift (a fact of which my mother reminds me daily), it gave me something to do in the absence of my usual job, which kept my all-too-fertile imagination occupied so that I didn't have too much time to worry about Remus when he was gone on work for the Order.

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A week went by in relative peace and quiet. My parents were steadily recuperating, my father getting his sarcastic sense of humour back (yeah, that's where I got it from), and my skills at keeping house gradually improving (I hadn't broken anything valuable for two whole days – oh yeah!), when one afternoon whilst my parents were resting upstairs, Remus approached me with a pale but resolved face. I was in the middle of trying to work out how to fold robes with magic, but all I had succeeded in doing so far was making them pile up in a rather crumpled heap…maybe the house-keeping spells were somehow made to reflect my innate messiness and disorderliness, I was pondering with annoyance, when I heard Remus walk through the door. I would recognise his footsteps anywhere and swung around delightedly to greet him, knocking my mother's favourite vase off the table as I did so. It landed with a crash and as I bent down to fix it, muttering reparo under my breath, I thought to myself bang goes today's perfect record.

"Remus!" I cried, "How was your…" my voice trailed off as I took in his serious and determined expression for the first time. "What's the matter?" I asked frantically.

"Nothing, 'Dora. Nothing's the matter." He replied heavily. "I just….I don't know how to….Oh gosh…" He dragged his hands through his hair and started again.

"I just have to go away for a while, okay? I don't know how long I'll be gone, but you'll be alright with your parents won't you? I mean….you'll be okay right?" He looked at me with a mixture of guilt and desperation in his eyes. My heart did a funny little flip-flop in my chest as I registered his expression and thought to myself, something's going on here that he isn't telling me about. Why does he look so guilty?

However, I decided not to voice this, saying simply, "Um…sure, I should be OK. Is everything alright Remus? Is there something the matter that I should know about?"

"No." he replied abruptly, and then more gently, "No, 'Dora. Everything's OK. I just…need to do something, something important. I….I love you, alright?"

"Alright" I said, confused. "I know that. I love you too."

"Good. Well….I must go then."

And without another word, he kissed me gently and walked out the door. A few seconds later, I heard him Disapparate, and sitting down on the kitchen stool, I shook my head in bewilderment, wondering what on earth could be going on.

A/N: So, can you guess where he's gone?? He he. REVIEW!!!!