Remus was absolutely entranced as he stared up at the big house in front of him. It was bigger than anything he had ever seen in his very short life and his young mind was having trouble comprehending that such a thing could exist. And to make it even better, this house was theirs according to Lupa.
"Remus." A familiar voice called.
The two year old turned and saw his sister walking towards him from the carriage they had spent forever riding in. Remus hated carriages but he loved horses. It was always fun when Lupa had allowed him to ride on one of the horses for a short time.
"Are you ready to go inside?" Lupa asked when she reached the toddler.
Remus nodded eagerly and turned and ran towards the really big house. He could hear Lupa laughing behind him as she ran to catch up. Because her legs were longer, she caught up easily and took his hand. They slowed as they reached the open front door and Remus' eyes grew bigger as he saw the inside of the house for the first time. There was a very long hall on the other side of the door with many doors leading off of it, some open, some closed.
Remus tugged his hand free of Lupa's and immediately ran down the hall. He dashed through the first open door he came to which turned out to be a small closet. It didn't deter him at all and after exploring it for a minute, he darted back into the hall and through the next door. This room was much better. It was a lot bigger and offered the toddler more chances to explore.
Remus could hear Lupa enter the room behind him but he was more concerned with exploring the room. There were curtains that reached the floor and many large pieces of furniture which offered him plenty of chances to hide behind them and see what was there. Occasionally he found something interesting and immediately ran to wherever Lupa was to show her. Lupa looked pleased by the things he brought her and that was enough incentive for Remus to keep exploring.
After several hours of exploring the first floor of the house, Lupa gently called to Remus. Remus poked his head out from behind a curtain.
"Come on Remus. Time for lunch." She said.
Lunch sounded like a good idea to the little boy so he happily ran out from behind the curtain and took Lupa's hand. His sister led him outside to the backyard where servants were spreading blankets and unpacking food. They took a seat on the nearest blanket and were immediately served sandwiches, fruit and drinks.
Like any other toddler, Remus tore into his food, not stopping to chew half the time. Lupa watched him in amusement as she ate her lunch at a much slower pace. When Remus had finally finished the last bite of his fruit, he jumped up, eager to continue exploring the new house and yard. As he was already outside, he decided to explore the yard. Lupa joined him ten minutes later when she finished her lunch. Exploring the yard quickly turned into a game of tag.
"I'm going to get you." Lupa called.
Remus giggled and ran towards the opposite end of the yard. Lupa chased after him. She would have caught him had Remus not noticed a small opening in the nearby hedges and ducked into it. He wiggled his way through the branches and to his surprise, they gave way to a small clearing. It was big enough for him to sit comfortably and looked like it would hold Lupa as well. Narrow beams of sunlight shone on the ground through the small holes in the branches above his head.
"Remus?" Lupa called, wondering where her brother had gone.
"Lu." Remus called back.
Lupa spotted a small opening in the hedges and realized that it was just big enough for Remus to crawl through. She knelt down in front of it and peered into the branches.
"Remus?" She called again.
A shadow in the branches moved and then Remus' grinning face was peering back at her.
"Lu." He said happily.
"How in the world did you get in there?" Lupa wondered, seeing the tangle of branches that should have prevented her brother from getting as far in as he had.
Remus' answer was a cute baby grin. "Come?" He asked.
"Maybe" Lupa answered, cautiously edging her way into the branches.
It took her a good five minutes to find her way through the branches. It didn't help that her dress and hair kept catching on the branches either. Finally Lupa made it to the middle of the hedges where her brother was waiting.
"Pretty." Was Remus' greeting when she finally sat next to him.
Lupa first thought he was talking about her. She knew she was a bit of a mess. There were grass stains on her dress where she had first knelt then crawled through the grass. Small tears covered her sleeves and there were a few scratches on her arm where the branches had gotten to her. Strands of hair had been pulled loose from her neat braid and were sticking out from her head. Then Remus pointed up at a shaft of light that was shining down through the branches and making the air shimmer.
"Very pretty." Lupa agreed.
She took a moment to look around the clearing her brother had found and Remus went back to watching the way the air shimmered in the sunlight. A butterfly fluttered through the branches and landed on a branch not far from Remus.
Entranced by the pretty colors, the toddler set about trying to catch it. All he succeeded in doing was making the butterfly move from one branch to the next. After a few minutes of failing to catch the pretty butterfly, Remus began to grow frustrated.
"No, no, Remus." Lupa said gently, pushing the outstretched hands down. "Mustn't disturb the butterfly."
Remus looked ready to cry and Lupa placed a finger on her lips. The little boy bit his lips to hold back his sobs and watched as Lupa held out a hand. Nearly two minutes later, the butterfly landed lightly on her outstretched hand. Remus' eyes grew wide and he started to reach out towards it when Lupa shook her head slightly.
Slowly, so as not to startle the butterfly, she brought her hand closer to her brother. Her free hand gently took hold of one of Remus' hands and curled all but his first finger in towards his palm. She then took the finger and placed it lightly on her hand, a few inches in front of the butterfly. Remus' eyes grew even wider when the butterfly walked across Lupa's hand and climbed up on his finger. Lupa dropped her hand when the butterfly was fully on Remus' finger.
Remus stared at the butterfly in fascination as he carefully brought it closer to his face.
"Not too close Remus." Lupa murmured.
Remus barely heard his sister. His attention was focused entirely on the pretty butterfly. Some part of his mind registered the instruction and his hand stopped several inches away from his face. His eyes traced the swirls of colors that decorated the wings. Without realizing it, his free hand had come up to trace over the patterns. It was stopped by Lupa's hand and Remus understood that he was not to touch the wings.
After what seemed like a long time to the little boy, the butterfly began to flap its wings and flew off into the branches. Remus watched it go quietly and when it was gone he turned to Lupa. Lupa looked down at him and smiled.
The peace was interrupted by familiar voices coming from outside their hiding spot. Remus recognized a few of them as the servants that attended to him and his sister.
"Mistress Lupa? Master Remus?" The servants called.
"Here." Lupa called back.
After several minutes of searching, the servants finally located their young masters.
"Mistress Lupa? Are you alright?" A man asked, kneeling down outside the opening in the hedges.
"We're fine John." Lupa answered.
"Well, if you are certain." John said. "We were just worried when we could not find you in the house or the yard."
"Remus found a hiding spot while we were playing tag. We'll come out in a little while." Lupa assured him.
"Very well mistress." John stood up and went back to his task of moving furniture into the house.
When he was gone, Lupa looked back down at her brother.
"Want to go explore the rest of the house?"
Remus' face lit up at the idea of more exploring and he nodded eagerly. Lupa crawled out first and Remus followed behind. When they stood up, Lupa brushed the dirt and leaves from their clothes as best as she could. Then without a word, they reached for each other's hand and took off running to the house.
AN: Well, this chapter took an unexpected turn. I wasn't planning on incorporating Remus' POV but the story decided that's what was needed. It turned out longer than I thought it would as well. I thought since I was only covering Lupa and Remus that it would be shorter but again the story decided that wasn't what it wanted. I'm curious, what did you all think of having a little bit of Remus' POV in this chapter?
At the moment, the next chapter does not contain Sirius' POV but that could change. So far I've got about a quarter of it written and it does not appear. We'll see what happens when I finish it later tonight.
One last thing, it would help me in writing the chapters if more people would review. So far for this story, only one person has reviewed for each chapter and it is the same reader. I'm very grateful Bottlebrush, that you take the time to review every chapter but now I understand what authors mean when they say that it's hard to write when you get few reviews. I know that there are people out there reading it and I would greatly appreciate it if you would take the time to type out a sentence or two letting me know what you think.