Disclaimer: Not mine.

His Calling

Chapter 13

Breakfast at the Three Broomsticks

Rhea got to the Three Broomsticks after the morning regulars were already at their tables. She put her robes over the back of a chair at one of the empty tables and walked to the fireplace to wait for Remus. Seeing Rosmerta coming from the kitchen with her arms full of food she put her finger to her lips and nodded to the others. She should have come earlier, she thought, to have to time talk before the other patrons had arrived.

"Coffee if I remember right." Rosmerta delivered the plates to the table then levitated a pot and cup to the table Rhea had taken.

"And a hot chocolate," Rhea smiled. "I have a date with my boy, he's joining me."

Just then, the floo activated and Remus came through. Rhea pulled him from the fireplace and hugged him until he struggled away spluttering and complaining about being treated like a baby.

"Mum, knock it off. You want everyone to see?" he whispered loudly, looking at the smiles from the people in the Inn.

"Knock it off?" she said in mock surprise. "Been gone a week and you think you are too big for a hug?"

"So, this is your guest?" Rosmerta tried to steady her voice. "What you want to eat young man?"

Remus looked up at his Mum and saw her nod before ordering eggs with sausage, sliced tomatoes, and extra jam for his toast, then after a pause asked for a sweet roll as well. Rosmerta raised her eyebrow, wondering where he was going to put it and ruffled his hair.

"If I cook it, you eat it," she smiled, remembering Romulus seldom had eaten more for breakfast than the splash of milk he poured into his tea.

She watched as they walked to the table by the window, and saw Remus lower his eyes before taking the seat that would put his back to the glass. Odd, she thought, most first years would want to see the pavement. She saw how Rhea reached out her hand and cast a silencing spell with the other, and then pick up his hand, examined his palms, turned them over and did the same to his nails.

Her stomach clenched. She knew. My god, she thought, quickly walking back into the kitchen and holding onto her cutting block until her legs steadied. Romulus' picture was still on the wall where she had hung it to see him every day. Looking at it now, she saw the boy that sat in the outer room with his mother, the same eyes, the same shape of the face, the same haunted look as they decided where to sit.

"Oh, Romulus," she sighed and squeezed her eyes shut, refusing to cry. "Fuck."

She slammed her fist against the wooden chopping block and fought back a scream, then gathered up the eggs and sausage and took them to the stove to cook his breakfast. She needed to separate it in her mind again. To keep the knowledge of the wolf separate from Remus.

Once the tray was prepared she picked it up and sauntered out, levitating the teapot behind her, and setting it to refill the cups at the other tables, she took Remus his meal.

"New Hogwarts' boy I see," she nodded to the insignia on his robes.

"Yup, I …" he stopped and looked at his mother, wide eyed and frightened. "Yes, Madam, I was sorted into Gryffindor."

"Gryffindor is it? In my day it was the smallest house, but from what I see coming in here it's growing."

"Yes, Headmaster said if this keeps up he will have to put six to each room instead of just the four."

"Remus," his mother covered his hand with hers, "let Madam … Madam Rosmerta get back to her work. There are others waiting."

"Mum's right," she jerked her head back to the kitchen. "If you still want that sweet roll best get it out before it burns."

"Black, he's one of my roomies, he says when we get older we get to come here all day by ourselves, and that…"

"Not for a few years yet, so you just stop hoping for what you may not get," Rhea chided him sternly.

Rosmerta kept her back to the Lupins as she cleaned off the neighbouring tables. Black, she heard. A Black in Gryffindor. She finished clearing the rest of the tables, hoping she would have time to catch Rhea before the early lunch crowd came in. Watching the clock, she knew she could not wait and grabbed an extra cup of hot cocoa.

"Here ya go boyo," she quirked her eyebrow at him. "How about you finish that while I show your Mum where to freshen up?"

He nodded and pulled the cup closer, smiling at getting a second cup at a restaurant where it had to be paid for. Rhea rolled her eyes and stood up, following Rosmerta to the kitchen.

"Rhea, I hope I am out of line, and I hope you tell me it's only my imagination, but…"

"Shh," Rhea peeked out of the diamond shaped window in the door, making sure it was still only Remus out front. "How did you know?"

"Just, things I don't think others saw, but Rhea, you have to be more careful," Rosmerta was surprised at the witch's snort of laughter.

"I think if I were more careful I would lock him up in the hen house."

Rosmerta smirked, and waved to the table and chairs, "Sit, he'll be fine. The bell will sound if someone comes in."

"Okay, so what did I do?" Rhea sighed.

"I used to do that, examine Romulus' nails close to the moon. I think it was seeing him sit near the window, and not look out. Oh Rhea, he's so little. Can he do it?"

"Help me," Rhea leaned closer to the witch. "I don't want him knowing about Marcus … your Romulus …, not until he can understand … but you need to tell me if you see anything that could give him away."

"Then tell him to sit further back, it won't be so important then, and warn him about Black. I heard him say one of the Blacks is in Gryffindor. "

"Sirius Black, and the Potter kid, from up at Godric. I was worried at first, that he may know the Lupin name and say something, but it seems he didn't know Anthony's family."

"Who else?"

"Peter Pettigrew, Remus knew him from before."

"Short, sandy haired kid, with a big mouth and bigger grin? Yeah, I know him, or of him, his family that is. Never liked his mother, greedy she was. His dad …" She shrugged. "Busy hands if you catch my meaning, and didn't much like the crowd he ran with."

"Potter?"

"Only that his is an old family. Don't surprise me he runs with Black. He's been in with his parents. Cocky if you ask me, you tell Remus to watch him."

"You're concerned about Black?"

"Listen Rhea, a couple of years ago the laws of heritage were changed. Not that it mattered at the time, and no one paid much attention, but it did change who could call themselves pure. I don't even know why it mattered. Why did they want it changed? Why would moving ten generations to be pure back to fifteen matter? The only thing I can figure out is it took some families off the list, but the strange part is that even some of the Muggle born wanted it. Of course they were the Muggle born and Half-bloods in that political league."

"Rosmerta, you lost me back at hello."

"It doesn't matter," she grinned. "What matters is that the Black family was one of the biggest supporters. Remus is living with a Black, one of the most bigoted families I know. Tell him be careful."

"Great, so Potter is a bully, Peter's father is a letch, but it is the Blacks that are bigoted. Do I have it right?" Rhea said flatly.

"Did it sound that bad?" Rosmerta reddened, then started to giggle. "Oh my gods, we sit here discussing a werewolf hiding in Hogwarts and I'm telling you that Peter's dad grabbed my arse in sixth year."

"They are little boys, Rosmerta," Rhea sighed. "I guess I can only hope for the best from them."

The bell signalled the end of their time together as Rhea rushed out to be with Remus, and Rosmerta rose to take Aberforth his tea. He was right on time, she sighed, wishing that just this once he could have been late.

.

.

Remus did well in charms, and was quick to use his own wand on the spells he already knew. It was different using his own wand, feeling the magic ebb and flow in his arm, instead of feeling the quickening of his mother's. He eyed Peter and saw he was having trouble with some of the basic spells, and peeking at Sirius and James saw them joking and laughing.

At first, he had tried to sit next to Potter and Black, but soon found they drew attention and giggles from the rest of the class. Feeling too many eyes turn to them, he said he had to sit closer to the front to see better, surprised when Peter followed his lead and joined him.

He found Peter sitting on the windowsill one night, quietly sobbing and wiping his nose on his sleeve. His first instinct was to back out of the room and pretend he hadn't seen, instead he found himself climbing up on the opposite side of the sill and just sitting with him, keeping him company.

"You won't tell them, will you?" Peter sniffed and wiped his nose again.

"Not if you don't want me too." Remus assured him. "Is it your Grandmother? Is she sick?"

"You don't know nothing, Lupin," Peter spat. "She don't mean nothing to me."

"What did she do?"

"She hates my Mum, you know? She says it's Mum's fault Dad don't want us no more."

Remus frowned. He didn't understand Peter. His own Grandmother didn't like his Mum, but his Dad had always wanted them. How could he not? He was the Dad. He just sat and nodded as if he knew what Peter was saying.

"She said they are getting divorced, that I have to live with Mum and won't see my Dad no more. She said…" he sniffed, and wiped his nose on his sleeve again. "She said if Mum hadn't gone and had a kid he could'a left a long time ago."

"Maybe she was kidding." Remus squirmed on the sill, feeling uncomfortable and wanting to leave, but at the same time wanted to make Peter stop crying.

"You're stupid, Lupin."

"Look at the cry baby," Sirius jabbed James in the ribs as they came jostling into the room. "What's the matter? Sluggy didn't like your essay again?"

"Shut up, Black!" Peter jumped off the still and clenched his fists.

"His Mum and Dad are getting a divorce," Remus stood up and put himself between them, then shoved his hands in his pockets and turned away. "Lay off him."

"Really?" James asked losing his smirk. "Cor, too bloody bad Pettigrew."

"Yeah." Sirius looked at the floor and toed the carpet. "Do they fight? Mine do. All the time."

"No." Peter looked up at Sirius and sat back down on the sill, letting his feet swing over the edge. "Sometimes, maybe a little."

"Who you going to live with? Sometimes they let you pick, Henry over in Hufflepuff picked his Dad." James joined him on the windowsill.

"Don't listen to him." Sirius punched Peter in the arm. "They got to get solicitors, and then go to court and everything."

"Come on, roast beef for dinner," James jumped up and waited until Peter stood uncertainly, before heading out the door.

"You too squirt." Sirius laughed at Remus who stood off to the side.

"Nah, I don't feel so good. I think I'm going to run down to the infirmary and see if Madam Pomfrey's got something."

"You get sick a lot," Peter muttered on his way out. "Even missed Halloween last month."

"It was my Mum, she was sick. Maybe I caught it." Remus kept his eyes on the floor, feeling his stomach clench, wanting to yell at him to leave, wanting to lash out at him for asking too many questions.

He peeked up from under his brow to make sure they had left the room before looking out the window and seeing the sun low on the horizon. Dark came early this time of year. The nights were longer and colder than the barn had been.

Remus grabbed his blanket from the trunk and ran down the stairs, onto the grounds and sprinted to the willow.

"You are late," Madam Pomfrey greeted him, as she pointed her wand at the borehole, and stopped the willow from moving.

"Peter says his parents are getting a divorce." He talked fast as he pulled off his robes and fell to the ground to yank off his shoes and socks. "He seems really upset about it. What is it?"

"A divorce?" She took his shoes and socks and turned her back until he had stripped down and wrapped the blanket around him. "It means they are still his Mum and Dad, but not a husband and wife. Do you understand?"

"Sort'a," he chewed the inside of his cheek and looked at her tearfully. "His Gramms said it was his fault 'cause if his Mum didn't have him, he …"

"You stop right there!" She pointed her finger in his face and started to scold him. "Old lady Pettigrew is a bitter old woman who says things that hurt people. Next thing you know she'll have that poor boy in tears and have you thinking your own Dad should be here if it… is that what you are on about?"

She saw him nod and pulled him to her for a quick hug. "Your Dad did what Dads should do. If more Dads were like that Muggle we would have a better place. Now you go before I have to bite you back."

Remus pulled away, and then put his arms around her neck, kissed her on cheek and ran to the willow, diving into the tunnel just as the tree came back to life.

He sat in the corner of the dark room, aware of the damp smell, a smell that had bothered him the first time he had changed here. Now he knew the smell was a good thing. It got stronger as the change came closer. It warned him.

He could watch his hands change now without crying in pain. He would take short quick breaths, panting as the pain grew, thinking of boggarts in his mother's kitchen and hearing the kitchen door slam shut with its sharp crack. His legs drew up under him, forcing him to fall forward on his newly formed front paws and hang his head as his spine shifted in the base of his skull, making it impossible to hold his head erect.

Suddenly his head fell further down and he felt his shoulders pull together, the bones move and refit in his joints. He had never gone this far before, had never felt the change so quickly or so horribly. The very act of breathing was more painful than it had ever been, he heard the sound of snapping and grinding bones and wanted his mother, tried to scream for her, but did not recognise the sounds that came out of the wolf.

He crawled, whimpering back into the corner, licking his hands as if the act would stop the pain that was still growing, turning his stomach, bringing bile to his throat. His mouth dripped with saliva, as the very inside of his mouth elongated and painfully readjusted to his wolf jaw.

Once the pain began to subside, he lay down and rubbed the blanket with his nose. He smelled the sun, and saw his mother in its glare. He whimpered and pushed again, wanting to feel her arms around him, wanting to be home in a barn with someone sitting near. He fought to stay awake, afraid that instead of falling into dreams he would fall into the wolf. Nuzzling his paw, he began to chew.

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