***Short and sweet.

Ch. 13 - Mail on a Sunday

Remus awoke to the faint sound of rummaging in the kitchen. Now that the fever had broken and he was mostly caught up on sleep, he got out of bed with more ease and threw on his pants from the night before. He smiled to himself when he recalled why they were on the floor in the first place.

He descended the stairs and observed Emmeline, who was prancing about his kitchen in his button-up, and savored the few moments he had just to marvel at her before she noticed him watching. He couldn't help but feel a bit triumphant, what with this splendid trouser-less woman galavanting around his kitchen, her hair exactly as unruly as it should have been.

When she did notice him, she smiled a guilty grin. "I'm afraid you don't have much in the way of breakfast food," she lamented, opening one more cupboard to check its contents. Her eyes lit up when she saw it: "Aha!" she rejoiced, pulling out one dented can of beans. Remus raised an eyebrow at her. "...It's a start," she shrugged.

He chuckled as he strode over to her, then wrapped his arms around her waist from behind. He'd almost forgotten how comfortably their bodies fit together. Emmeline turned around so that she was facing him and gave him a kiss so soft it was silken. "Good morning."

"It is, indeed, a good morning." Remus hoisted her up so that she was sitting on the counter and tipped forward into her lips once more. He was feeling rather confident and had half a mind to make love to her all over again, right here in the kitchen - but his consideration was interrupted by the swoosh of the mail slot and the faint flapping of an owl's wings.

They turned and puzzled at the single envelope on the floor of the entryway before Emmeline hopped off the counter to retrieve it.

"What is it?" asked Remus, leaning up against the counter. He was rather delighted that she already felt comfortable enough in the house to be retrieving the mail.

"It's from Albus." She held the envelope out towards him so that he could look at it for himself. Sure enough, there was the Hogwarts crest. "Go ahead then, open it," she urged, motioning for him to take it.

This must have been Albus' note about the next meeting. Remus took the envelope and opened it meticulously, then unfolded its contents. "Dear Ms. Va-..." he started, doing a double take at the name before handing it back to Emmeline. "It's for you…"

Perplexed, she plucked the letter from his fingers and began reading out loud:

"Dear Ms. Vance,

It has come to my attention that you have returned from your sabbatical. As such, I am pleased to offer you your former position with the Order of the Phoenix. I eagerly await your reply.

Yours,

Albus P.W.B. Dumbledore"

She stared at the letter, frowning.

"Well that's wonderful, isn't it?" asked Remus, breaking the silence.

"Yeah...wonderful…"

She continued to study the note, reading it over and over, and Remus began to get the sense that, for some reason, she did not find this wonderful.

"...Do you plan to accept his offer?"

"I...I don't know," she admitted, her eyes still on the parchment.

Remus furrowed his brow. "Well, why wouldn't you?"

Emmeline blinked a few times. "...I've sort of got to get a job now, don't I? Unless you've changed your mind about me staying here, I'll need to pay my share of the rent and whatnot."

"You don't have to pay for the rent," Remus assured her, as his rent was being covered for him.

"Nonsense, that wouldn't be fair. The only reason I wasn't splitting any bills with Tiberius was he didn't want me working. I mean, not like I could afford his bills anyway...stupid prick."

Stupid prick indeed. "If you'd like to get a job I won't stop you, but don't let that affect your decision. I think you'll recall that most of the people in the Order have day jobs. It's just that James and Sirius are rich sods and I'm...me."

Emmeline continued to grasp for excuses. "Well...I also haven't exactly practiced any combat magic in ages, I'd be rusty…"

"That's not a problem, Alastor would be happy to give you a review. You were always good at it anyway."

"Maybe…I'll have to think about it…" she muttered, her eyes drifting back to the letter.

Remus could see that she had more reservations about the proposal than she cared to tell him, but he decided not to push the matter. Of course he wanted her to come back to the Order. Then again, with Voldemort returning from the East, it would be exceedingly dangerous for her - for them all.

A rumble from his gut alerted Remus to the fact that he was famished. In the past three days, the only things he'd consumed were copious amounts of brandy, about one mouthful of cereal, raw venison (which had swiftly made its way back up anyway), and two measly sausage rolls.

He broke Emmeline's hypnotic state by gingerly lowering the letter away from her gaze. "Why don't we say to hell with the beans, get properly dressed, and go for a pastry at the shop down the road?" Or, probably, four or five pastries.

Emmeline grinned and set the letter down on the chair nearest the door. She could no longer conceal her own grumbling stomach. "That sounds marvelous," she agreed, starting towards the stairs to go get dressed.

Before she went up, something occurred to Remus. "Hang on," he said, looking back at the letter. "...how did Dumbledore know you would be at my house?"

They both turned and stared at each other before bursting out laughing.