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Ch. 15 - A Haircut

James had caught wind of what happened with Remus' transformation (from Peter) as soon as he returned home from his utterly blissful honeymoon. Apparently, nobody had heard from Remus at all the past week and figured that he needed space, but space was not something James was particularly good at giving. Once he and his beloved had dropped their bags off at home, Prongs set off to check on Moony before his domestic married life commenced. Lily was well versed in Remus' situation and had offered to accompany James, but he thought they ought not to overwhelm Remus - to which she reminded him that she was a far less overwhelming person than he was. He could not argue with that. She stayed home anyway, thinking perhaps she might remind him of Emmeline, because as far as anyone knew they still weren't on great terms.

James' walk took all of ten minutes. When he arrived at Remus' doorstep however, his knocks went unanswered. He guessed Remus was in low spirits, but quarter till noon was a bit late to still be in bed, even for him. He knocked again. Nothing.

James began to worry a bit. With Voldemort and the death eaters' activity picking up, he began to feel paranoid about his friend's wellbeing. "Alohomora," he whispered, unlocking the front door and tip-toe-ing inside the house.

"Moony?" He listened closely and could hear the faint sound of running water coming from the second floor. Cautiously, he made his way towards the stairs to investigate the noise. He soon came face to face with Emmeline, who was sporting nothing but Remus' bathrobe tied loosely around her body.

They both screamed.

"AGH!"

"JAMES?!"

"SORRY! I'M SORRY-" James turned away and stashed his wand before shielding his eyes.

"WHAT ARE YOU-"

"I CAME TO CHECK ON REMUS! I'll just be going-"

"What the devil is going on?!" asked Remus, who had just raced down the stairs with his wand. When James turned, he saw that Remus had a towel wrapped around his waist. And both of their hair was wet.

James looked somewhere between bewildered and beguiled, Emmeline flushed a shade of deep scarlet as she tied the robe tighter, and Remus readied himself for the teasing he was about to be subjected to. "James! Hah…" He swallowed dryly. "Welcome back."

James said nothing and continued to look back and forth between the two, piecing everything together.

"I trust Paris was nice? Nipply this time of year."

Mortified, Emmeline smacked her palm to her forehead. "Nippy, Remus. Blimey."

"What did I say?"

A stupid grin crept its way across James' face.

"Oh bloody hell here we go," Remus sighed.

"...Merlin Morgana and Mungo you two, we leave for a fortnight and miss all of this? Wait till I tell Lily!"

Remus began shooing him back towards the door. "Speaking of Lily, shouldn't you be getting back to her?"

"You know, I was coming to check on you, but it's become clear that you're well taken care of."

"Oh bite me Potter," grumbled Emmeline, sneaking back upstairs.

"I think Remus beat me to the punch, dear!"

Remus spoke tersely as he opened the door for him. "Glad you're back. Send Lily our- er- my regards."

"BYE Emmie!" James whacked Remus on the shoulder. "Well done Moony, well done!"

"Yepthanksgoodbye." He closed the door on him, leaving James to make his way back home with a skip in his step.

Remus rested his head against the door and huffed a sigh. He and Emmeline had managed to spend seven glorious days together with their little secret intact, the likes of which would have earned the envy of rabbits. Now that Prongs knew about them, Padfoot and Wormtail were sure to find out before dinner. They were never going to let him live this one down.

But oh, how he could care less. He had her.

Speaking of Emmeline, where had she run off to?

Remus followed Emmeline back upstairs to the washroom where she was waiting with another towel and his desk chair. "It would appear we've been caught red-handed." Thankfully, she didn't look too torn up about it.

Remus leaned in the doorway. "So it would seem."

"They were going to find out eventually," she shrugged.

"I hope you're prepared for the comedic torment we're about to be put through. I expect this'll give them material to work with 'til Christmas."

"Who, James and Sirius?" she chuckled. "Them I can handle. It's Marlene and Lily you ought to worry about. Absolute menaces."

"What's all this?" he asked, pointing to the chair she'd brought into the bathroom.

"You looked positively ragged at the wedding so I believe a trim is in order. And you can shave after."

Remus pawed at his wet, chin-length hair. "You don't like it? I thought it sort of made me look like James Hunt."

"You want the truth?"

He nodded.

"...You look a bit feral," she admitted, scrunching her nose.

Remus laughed. "Well in that case," he complied, sitting down in the chair and letting her have her way as she wrapped the towel around his shoulders and got to work. He began to hear the soft slicing sound of the scissors as little tufts of hair fell around him. The sensation of her fingertips moving through his hair and along his scalp was something he'd always relished - in their final year at school, a few students who'd taught themselves how to cut hair got together and made a sort of impromptu Hogwarts salon where trims could be exchanged for Honeydukes sweets, help with schoolwork, or in some cases, firewhisky. Some of the other "hairdressers" used magic, but Emmeline preferred the shears, and being her boyfriend at the time, Remus had been a faithful customer. He watched her lovingly in the mirror as she worked with a furrowed brow and pursed lips.

Eventually she made her way around so that she was standing in front of Remus with one of her legs in between both of his.

"Good Godric, what've you done to the front?"

"I couldn't bring myself to ask Lily when she was planning the wedding, so I tried to enchant the scissors." He moved his hand into the slit of the bathrobe and affectionately caressed her thigh. Merlin almighty, her skin was smooth.

Emmeline tried to swallow a smile. "Don't distract me, I don't want to knick you."

"I'm no stranger to cuts…" He began moving his hand up her leg...

She swatted him away. "Down boy. I've got to fix this hair first." Her lips pursed again as she continued trimming, and Remus went back to silently admiring her.

A week had gone by and he still hadn't found an opportune time to tell her the extent of how he felt. The more time that passed, the more he began to second guess himself - "love" was a strong word, and perhaps one week in was just too soon. They'd said the L word to each other in their youth, but it seemed to hold more significance and weight as adults. I mean, did he really have to say it? Weren't the sleepless nights and occasional mid-morning pick-me-ups evidence enough? Then again, there was a difference between love and lust, but Remus was unequivocally inflamed with both.

"I think I've salvaged it," she announced a few minutes later. After running her fingers through his hair a few more times, she moved over so that he could see himself in the mirror. "Ta-da!"

Remus tousled his shorter hair for himself. She was right, with three inches of hair gone he definitely looked more like a person and less like a lycan. "Brilliant," he said approvingly, before pulling her into his lap.

"Ahp-ap-ap! Shave first." Much to Remus' dismay, she climbed out of his embrace. He watched desirously as she pulled the desk chair away and went into the bedroom to get dressed.

"You're really so displeased with my facial hair that you won't let me touch you again until it's gone?"

She raised an eyebrow at him. "We've just gotten out of the shower together and you're hungry for more? You're insatiable." With a swish and a flick of her wand, the hair on the bathroom floor was swept up into the waste bin.

"Ravenous, darling. We have ten and a half months to catch up on. There's simply no time for me to shave." He came up behind her and attempted to untie the front of her bathrobe, but she spun around and closed it back around herself with a smirk on her lips.

"Razor. Now."

Remus grunted his disapproval and trudged back to the bathroom while Emmeline chuckled to herself. He began applying shaving cream to his face and pulled the straight razor his father had given him out of the cupboard. It was torturous really, making him watch as the robe dropped from her body while he was banished to the sink.

"I thought you would've learned your lesson about enchanting sharp objects after that one time with that very razor," Emmeline called to him, pulling her arms through the sleeves of an orange sweater before tying her hair up in a bun. "You walked into Care of Magical Creatures one morning and I thought you'd fought off a pixie horde."

"...Have you thought about Dumbledore's offer?" he asked, veering the conversation in a more serious direction. It had been a week since she'd received the letter with no indication of what she was planning to do about it. Through the mirror's reflection he watched as her smile disappeared.

"...Still considering it. I've got my interview at Flourish and Blotts tomorrow, remember? I'm focusing on that first..."

"Right, of course."

He dropped the subject. Silence ensued.

Not a minute later, an owl rapped on the bedroom window. Emmeline trotted across the room to open it for the creature who simply dropped the letter from its beak and flew off, but not before it earned itself a territorial squawk from Orpheus. Once she had closed the window again, she picked the delivery up off the floor. "His ears must've been burning. It's another note from Dumbledore."

Remus stepped away from the sink with half of his face still covered in shaving cream and opened the envelope. "...The meeting's been moved. It's in London, and it's tonight." He set the letter down on the bed then looked back at her, an idea forming. "...You should come with me."

Emmeline shook her head. "I'm not a member anymore, I don't think I'll be allowed."

"Oh come now, you've just been offered your spot back. Alastor isn't going to throw you out, and it'll be a good opportunity to discuss matters with Dumbledore." He was hopeful that a face-to-face conversation with Albus might persuade her to take back her old position.

"...I suppose you're right," she conceded. She couldn't avoid the matter much for longer.

"Besides," he continued, heading back to the sink to finish up shaving. "It'll be our first appearance as us again. You know, so James doesn't go blabbering before we can tell everyone ourselves."

Emmeline came back to the bathroom and eyed him fondly. "You missed a spot," she informed him, slowly reaching out to commandeer the razor. She then sat herself on the countertop in front of him and gently swiped the blade under his chin. "I like the sound of that. 'Us.' 'Us' sounds good," she said, smiling as she wet the razor and carried on.

"I concur," Remus mumbled, striving to keep his face still.

"...There. All done." She set the razor aside and handed him a towel to wipe his face with. When he emerged from the cloth, she beamed. "Remus Lupin, you are the most dashing man I've ever laid eyes on. And for the record, you were before the trim, too."

Remus grinned bashfully. When they'd dated before, he had to convince himself that Emmeline wasn't fibbing every time she told him how handsome he was. It was still hard for him to believe her, but he couldn't help himself from leaning in to kiss her tenderly. Then, the tenderness became tenacity.

"Alright Ms. Vance, I've done as you asked. My hair is cut and my face is clean. May I please touch you now?"

"I've just gotten dressed," she said against his lips.

"That can be remedied very easily, I assure you."