Disclaimer: Not mine.


His Calling

Chapter 39

Stirrings


That year the cool breeze from the North Sea stalled, leaving the land dry and sweltering under the summer sun. Remus would rise with John and haul water from the creek for the livestock. Last winter's snow pack had been light, too light for the well, fed by an underground stream that started high in the mountains, to do more than supply the kitchen. Rhea took to going for a swim in the evenings, preferring not to use the water to bathe, leaving what little they did have for her husband's shower before he headed off to work.

"Lucinda's milk is off," Rhea said as they walked into the barn after filling the watering trough. "Got less than a quart."

"It's the feed." John slapped the cow on the flank and guided her out of the door. "I've already sent a missive to Spencer. He put up some feed last year, might do better on it than what I have."

"The calf is doing okay," Remus said, wiping the sweat off his face with his bare arm then pulling his tee off over his head. "Merlin, it's already too hot to do anything."

"I don't envy you tonight…" John started and then looked at Remus sadly. "I didn't mean anything, you know that."

"Yeah, don't worry about it. Maybe I will pass out from the heat and have an easy time of it this time."

"Remus! He apologised!"

"I know, sorry, Dad, it's the heat that's all." He walked to the cell in the back corner and opened the door, seeing that his mother already had it ready. "Thanks. Listen, Peter may stop by tonight. I told him it was okay."

"What about Sirius?"

"Yeah, I told him even if it was late to come over."

"Dad is going to make a couple of slots. I thought if we put one at the bottom I could slide in fresh water, and one at the top may let some of the hotter air out."

"Maybe I will just take a run into town. You know, find a shop with that Muggle air conditioning, scare everyone out and spend the night."

"Funny." John intoned.

"Hello?" A girl's voice called from outside the barn. "Mr. Dawlish?"

"In here," he called back, jerking his head to Remus, signalling him to shut the door to the cell and sniggered as he hurriedly pulled his damp tee back over his head.

"I knocked on the door but no one is…oh, hi. Guess you are all out here."

Remus shut the door and turned back to see who had joined them. He felt his breath hitch and coughed into his hand to cover the strangled sound that escaped him. She was taller then Rhea, thin, but with an athletic look to her, muscular and firm. Remus had a hard time not staring at her legs, legs that started at her sandaled feet and rose in graceful curves up to an indecent height, ending at the frayed edges of too short Muggle style cut offs. His eyes continued up, taking in her cropped top, exposing a sliver of skin just above her waistband. Jerking his head up to her face, he turned red seeing her knowing smirk.

"You must be Remus."

"I'm sorry," Rhea stood up from her seat on the milking stool. "I forgot that you two haven't met. This is my son Remus, Remus Lupin, from my first marriage. Remus, this is Mr. Spencer's niece Lucille. She is spending the month with him."

"Lucy, please. No one calls me Lucille. My uncle sent me over with the wagon. He said he can spare a few weeks worth of feed and if you can help put a new roof on the barn he will call it even."

"You tell him I will help with the roof, but I plan on paying him back."

"You argue with him," she laughed. "If you pay him back he will just pay you for fixing the roof and you will be right back to square one."

"Join us for breakfast? You couldn't have eaten yet, not at this hour," Rhea said, sliding her arm under Lucy's arm and leading her to the house. "Leave them to empty the wagon, you can help me in the kitchen."

Remus stepped out of the barn behind them, watching as they walked away, enjoying the view.

"Quite the looker," John said, coming up behind him.

"You can say that again," Remus grinned. "Merlin, where did old man Spencer get her? She can't look like anyone in his family."

"She's his brother's kid. Raised in Germany, goes to school in France. Her father died last year, she and her mother are here visiting. Bet she would like to do something. Maybe go to the cinema?"

Remus ran his hand through his hair, suddenly aware of what he must look like. "That's not a good idea. You know what could happen."

"She is a witch, son, not a Muggle, and you could use the floo as far as Diagon, or just take her into town. I am sure she would like to get off the farm for a day."

"I have a lot to do." Remus turned back to the barn.

"A night out would do you good."

"Yeah, maybe tonight would be a good time for her to see the real me."

"You have been in a foul mood all summer, boy," John sighed. "Best clean up. Company for breakfast and your mum will have your hide if you show up like that."

"I need to haul one more load of water," Remus grumbled, grabbing the buckets and heading back to the stream.

At Rhea's urging, Lucy found Remus, still at the stream, after the morning meal. She picked her way through the underbrush and peeked out to see him lying shirtless on the bank, one arm thrown over his eyes and the other across his stomach.

"My, is that how you fetch water?" she laughed, stepping out into the sun.

"Yeah," he muttered, sitting up and reaching for his shirt.

"Don't bother," she chided. "It is too fucking hot. If I could go shirtless I would."

He grinned and glanced sideways at her. "That would be something I would like to see."

"Boys have it better you know." She plopped down next to him, pulled of her sandals and laid down on her back, looking up at him. "You can take your shirt off, go skinny dipping, spit on the pavement and fart. People think it is funny. If a girl does it she is cheap and gross."

"See your point." He lay down next to her with a chuckle. "Girls don't have to get sweaty hauling water and feeding the stock. That and they don't have to …"

"Get up while it is still dark to load a wagon full of feed? Don't give me that crap."

"Sorry."

"I'll have you know I loaded that wagon myself. Without magic," she informed him smugly.

"Bags weigh…over twenty five kilos."

"Twenty seven and a half. I weighed them."

"Show off."

She sat up, ripped a handful of dried grass up and threw it at his chest. "You swim here?"

"Sometimes." He looked at her oddly.

"You have your wand?"

"Yeah."

"Good. You can dry me off when I am done." She jumped up laughing and ran into the stream. "Come on. I am sure you can transfigure a pair of shorts or something. I'll hide my eyes."

Remus pressed his lips together, annoyed that she made it sound like a challenge, and then relented as she turned her back to him. Waving his hand over the tops of his jeans, he transfigured a passable pair of swim trunks and joined her in the stream. Sinking down on his knees, he let the water cover his shoulders.

"Where did you get that scar?" she asked innocently.

"It was a long time ago." He feigned interest in the field on the opposite bank. "Water level is usually a good bit higher."

"Looks like a bite mark. I have one on my thigh." She sunk down in the water with him, reaching out to touch his shoulder. "Only mine healed better. Not like this at all. It looks like…" She let her hand drop and turned away from him. "Beat you to the other side."

"I'd better be going," Remus said, standing up and heading back to the shore. "I have work to do."

"Remus?" She called to him standing up and following him. "It doesn't matter."

He spun to study her face, not expecting to see concern and acceptance. "What? I … I told you I have to… I need to get back."

"My uncle says your stepdad is the worse farmer he has ever seen. He can't understand why he and your mum stick it out here."

"My father…he … he farmed south of here. Mum got this place after he died."

"To hide you in?" She walked up to him and searched his face. "It's okay. Really, it is."

"You're crazy," he spat, turning away from her.

"Okay, so I am crazy. Fine, but you promised to dry me off."

He pulled his wand from his waistband and turned back, levelling it at her, unable to utter the incantation when he saw her tee clinging to her, her nipples pushing against the material, erect and firm.

"Umm, Remus? The drying spell?" She looked down at her chest before pulling the fabric away from her body, turning red as she did so. "Okay, so you go shirtless…I go braless when it is this hot."

"Where is your scar?"

She turned around and twisted to show him the back of her left leg. "Bled like hell. Old man Whitaker's dog got me."

"I thought you were lying." He lowered the wand as his eyes found hers. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be, just dry me off."

He did as she asked then dried himself and transfigured his trunks back to a pair of jeans. "This was a bad idea."

"The swim or my being here?"

"Both."

"I won't tell anyone, if that is what you are worried about. Do you think I am stupid? Do you think I would do something like that?"

"I don't know you. How can I be sure that you won't run back to your uncle's farm and yell wolf? That is my family up there. If this gets out they … how can I trust you?"

"You can't. You will have to take it on faith," she shrugged and scooped up her sandals. "You know what gave it away? You never asked why I weighed the sacks. You never even questioned why I didn't use magic."

"What does that have to do with it?"

"You don't care that I'm a squib."

"I never…I didn't think…I…"

"I know. All the wizards I know would have said something right off," she shrugged and started up the path again. "So, you keep my secret and I will keep yours."

"How do you keep that a secret?" Remus ran after her, falling in step with the long legged girl, grinning down at her.

"You hide it at your uncle's farm in the summertime and tell everyone that you go to school in France."

"Where do you go to school?"

"I don't. I am home schooled. My mum is so embarrassed she keeps up the lie. I don't know what she plans to do when I am of age. I only have a year left, then her story won't work anymore. So what about you?"

"Hogwarts."

"Still? Seventh year, no?"

"Sixth," he glanced at her sideways. "We age faster."

"So I have heard," she grinned. "It looks good on you."

"Thanks," he sputtered, not sure her telling him being a werewolf looked good on him was a bad thing or not. "I think…"

"That came out wrong," she laughed. "Sorry. Listen, if my mum or uncle asks, and they shouldn't, we didn't talk. You know, without your folks around. I'll catch bloody hell if they know I came down here to fetch you."

"Need I ask why?"

"It is that mixed blood thing. Spencer doesn't really care, but my mum says I draw enough attention. We don't need to mix more people into our problems and your mixed blood will only…you know."

Remus laughed outright, shaking his head and smiling widely. "You, are worried about me?

"It's not a joke." She stopped and turned to glare at him. "Do you think he-who-must-not-be-named is only after Muggles? Do you think for one minute he will suffer squibs kindly?"

"Look who you are talking with."

"Right. A bloody werewolf. He wants your kind. He is gathering them up. My kind he is killing. Flat out killing, not even trying to hide it. The only reason he will be after you is to convert you to his side. You know it and I know it."

"You'd better be going," Remus muttered and walked away, leaving her to look after him. "I would hate to have you caught talking to my kind."

"You don't have to be so touchy," she shouted at his back. "Go on then, run away. Run away and hide."

Remus returned to the barn and stayed in it until he heard the wagon pull away and Rhea call out a goodbye to Lucy. He breathed a deep sigh of relief that she was gone, not wanting to admit that she was right, not to her, not even to himself.

That evening he sat on the porch looking up at the sky, waiting for the time to go to the barn when Rhea came out, sat down behind him on the top step, and wrapped her arms around him, pulling him back to her.

"Another summer almost over," she sighed. "We should do something special before you go back. Remember how we used to go into London and visit the museums? Would you like to do that again?"

"She knows," he said quietly.

"Who knows what?"

"Lucy, Lucy Spencer. I had my tee off and she recognised the scar."

"What did she say," Rhea said, trying to keep the fear out of her voice.

"She said it didn't matter, that … she said she wouldn't tell anyone."

"Do you believe her?"

"Yes. I don't know why, but I do."

"She seems like a good girl. A little sassy and a little…I don't know…worldly I guess. She reminds me of Muggle girls I've met. Do they live in a mixed area?"

"I don't know, I didn't ask," he grinned. "Next time she comes around give me a list."

She swatted the back of his head, releasing him from her hug and gave him a gentle push. "Twilight is almost here. It is time."

"Yeah," he stood up and turned, holding out his arms so she could slather on the healing ointment she always made him put on. "So, I hear Vol…that bastard wants to gather up the werewolves and keep us as pets."

"Remus!" Rhea said in shock, "don't even joke about that."

"It's not joke. This is the second time I've heard it."

"Well…just…put it out of your mind."

"I hear he wants all sort of strange and dangerous creatures with him. I was thinking…I could do that…I could find out where they are and…"

Rhea bought her hand up and slapped his face without thinking.

"Don't you ever!" she hissed. "Don't you ever think such a thing!"

Remus caught her by the wrist and sneered at her. "What? Do you think I am going to sit back and watch this happen? Do you…" he stopped, seeing the fear in his mother's face, he let his arm drop to his side, and stepped back from her. "You'd better call John, I think it is time."

Rhea felt hot tears fill her eyes as she watched him stride away from her. She turned, and slowly went into the house to find John, afraid to go to the barn with her son.