Rory slept with the lights on now. It wasn't that she was afraid of the dark. It wasn't the dark that scared her. The dark simply reminded her of a time when she'd been afraid. It made her remember when she was certain she was going to die.
On her first night home from Hogwarts, she'd closed her bedroom door and turned off the light as she always did, and she promptly had a panic attack. Thankfully, she was so exhausted from being paralyzed with fear that she fell soundly asleep on the couch an hour later.
Her sleep was fitful. Fear tickled at the back of her brain and the faces of the Crouches and Cedric and Voldemort rippled through her mind with abandon.
Rory wanted to get out of her flat.
Sirius had been around the first few days she was home from school. He and Remus both sat up with her that first night until she fell asleep. When she'd woken, Sirius was asleep on the loveseat.
But now he was gone. Back into hiding. Not too far off according to her dad. Sirius was helping Dumbledore establish a meeting place for a secret organization called The Order of the Phoenix who existed stop Voldemort. Apparently, both of her fathers, Harry's parents, and the Weasleys were all a part of the organization during the first war and disbanded when Voldemort went underground.
Now that Voldemort was back, so was the Order. But there was still work to be done before things got off the ground.
The hardest part about all of this was that she was not allowed to tell Harry a single, solitary thing about what was happening. The papers were saying that he and Dumbledore were cracked for repeatedly suggesting that Voldemort was alive. The Ministry's stance was that Cedric Diggory had died in an accident and that reform was needed at Hogwarts because of the many series of incidents that took place over the last few years.
When Rory got letters from Harry, she wrote him back as extensively as she could without giving any information away. It helped that she wanted to talk to him about things that had nothing to do with Voldemort. Mainly about how much she missed him and how badly she was sleeping.
Harry was not as long-winded. His letters were usually short and got his point across. He definitely was not one of those poets who wrote long letters to their beloved. But Harry still managed to soften her when he wrote. His most recent from the day before had been proof enough of that.
Rory
Still not much going on here. I've been checking the news every day just in case. Nothing obviously. I wish you could tell me more.
Super Trouper came on the radio while my aunt was making dinner last night and it reminded me of you. Hopefully, I can get out of the house soon and see you.
Love,
Harry
Aside from swooning over her boyfriend's brief letters, she was in her own head most of the time.
She needed to get out of the house. Thankfully, her father finally gave in to her request. The full moon was to be that evening, and she could already tell he was feeling tired and anxious. At breakfast that morning, Rory was drinking black coffee and eating two hard-boiled eggs. Her breakfast of choice when she was home.
"Have I ever told you that you have the breakfast pallet of an old man?" Remus asked.
"Repeatedly," she said. "All I need is whiskey in my coffee, a cigarette, and a scathingly low opinion of women. Then my transformation will be complete" She was reading the paper. "Did you see this? Apparently, Sirius is in Switzerland now."
Remus chuckled. "That's the Order's doing."
"Is it?" she asked.
He nodded. "We've a few people in the Auror office who've allowed a bit of information about Sirius' location to slip to the press."
"Aurors?" Rory asked. "Dumbledore must mean business. He's checked to make sure none of them are Death Eaters this time I trust?"
"He's quite certain, though if you wanted to vet everyone I think he might take you up on that," Remus said.
"I'd have to meet them all first," Rory pointed out. "Instead I've been in here."
"Yes, I know. I'm sorry. And I'm sure a bit of fresh air would do you some good," Remus said. "But you're in luck. Someone has been asking quite insistently to see you since he's missed you two Christmases in a row."
Rory's eyes lit up. "Grampy?"
Remus nodded. Rory adored her grandfather. Lyall Lupin was a lot like his son, but he had so many stories to tell, and Rory hung on his every word. Plus, she was his only grandchild which meant he spoiled her. He was the one who'd paid for her to have piano lessons before she started at Hogwarts, which came in handy once she joined choir. He was the one who'd sparked her interest in just knowing things because he always seemed to know so much.
"It'll just be for the evening," Remus said.
"Aww, why?" she asked.
He smiled sadly at her. "You've not been doing well, Aurora. And your grampy-"
She groaned. "I know you don't want to stress him out, but as you so frequently point out to me, as your father he is well within his rights to be concerned about you."
"Well I don't want him to worry about you not sleeping while he's always worrying about me," Remus said.
Rory scoffed. "As if we ever sleep when you're gone."
Remus pouted. "Being that my father is pushing 70, I would say that he's inclined to get some sleep in the evenings."
"I'm going to tell him that you said he was old," Rory said.
"Of course you are. You two love to gang up on me," he said.
Lyall Lupin was the spitting image of his son. They were both tall, with graying light brown hair (though Lyall was more gray than brown these days), the same brown eyes, and they both seemed to have creases in the same parts of their face (though Lyall's were decidedly more pronounced).
But Rory was delighted to see him. She'd barely raised her hand to knock on the front door when it flew open and she was pulled into a hug.
"Aurora, my dear, if you ever stay away for so long again I'm going to have a few choice words for my son," Lyall said.
"I would've come to visit last summer, but someone decided he wanted to go on holiday," Rory said.
"It's a shame you couldn't see how tan I was. Spain did wonders for my complexion," Lyall said. He finally released his granddaughter and pulled Remus into a hug. "How are you, son?"
"Same as always," Remus replied.
"Come in, come in," Lyall said. Rory walked inside. She loved her grandfather's cottage. She'd seen every photograph, photo album, knickknack, and book in the place aside from the things Lyall kept locked in his study. He'd shown her a bit of his research now that she was older, but when she was growing up he was afraid that it would frighten her.
"Can't stay long," Remus said.
"Obviously, but you'll come here and rest in your old room so I can spend some time with my granddaughter," Lyall said. Remus went to argue, but his father was not having it. "That was a direction, not a request. Thank you."
Remus chuckled as Rory filled a kettle with water at the sink.
"Excuse me, but why is it that every time you're here you seem to forget that you're a guest?" Lyall asked.
"I'm your granddaughter. Not a guest," Rory replied. She sat it on the stove. Lyall gave a quick wave of his wand and a fire appeared beneath it. "How've you been?"
"I'm retired. I'm doing the same thing I've always done," Lyall said. "But I've seen these papers and I've talked to your dad. My girl, what a year you've had."
Rory looked over to her dad who nodded.
"Oh, don't worry. I know all about Sirius Black. I always liked that boy. Glad he didn't turn out to be a Death Eater," Lyall said. "I'm glad I don't have to keep it a secret anymore, who you are. Not that it ever affected how much I love you."
"I know," Rory said with a sigh. "Did he also tell you I'm a seer? That's far more interesting than me being adopted."
"Yes, I know all about that," Lyall said. "I finally convinced him to have tea with me a few weeks ago after that boy died at the tournament. Did you know him? Diggory?"
Rory shook her head. "I'd only met him a handful of times. I mostly knew him because he played Quidditch. He was an excellent seeker. And last year when dementors randomly showed up during a game and Cedric won a match when Harry fell off his broom, he wanted Hufflepuff and Gryffindor to have a rematch because he didn't think it was fair. He was a good guy. It's horrible what happened."
"What's horrible is how Fudge is going to inevitably bungle this whole thing," Lyall said.
"Now you've gone and got him started," Remus said.
Lyall didn't hate the Ministry of Magic. He'd spent a great deal of time working for them. But once Remus was turned into a werewolf, he started to see flaws inherent in the system that made things difficult for his son. And so he didn't exactly feel kindly towards them.
"No, no, I'll save my tangent for later since you've already heard it, Remus," Lyall said. "I want to know about this Harry Potter."
"Everyone wants to know about Harry Potter," Rory said dismissively. "He's not all that interesting."
"Not all that interesting and yet I got the shock of a lifetime seeing my granddaughter snogging him on the front page of The Prophet," Lyall asked. Rory felt her face go red. "Remus I never thought I'd live to see the day where Aurora was both embarrassed and speechless."
"Happens quite a lot these days when you talk to her about Harry," Remus said.
"And this boy is nice to you?" Lyall asked.
"Of course he is. Not to worry. I'm sure dad will vouch for him," Rory said.
"Yes, although I'd prefer if the two of you found yourselves in mortal peril less often," Remus said.
"I think we all would prefer that," Rory replied.
Her mind went back to Moody's office. To the closet. The darkness. The paralyzing fear. Her heart began to race in her chest. She felt hot all over.
"Aurora, are you alright?" Lyall asked. He walked her over to the kitchen table and sat her down in a chair.
"Sorry," Rory said trying to shake the feeling away. "It's just been a very long school year. Not every day that someone tries to murder you. Repeatedly."
"Well you're here now," Lyall said clapping one of his hands over hers. "It'll get better eventually. Don't you worry. It just takes a bit longer for the mind to heal. You'll get there."
Rory nodded. She was sure Lyall knew all about how she felt. With Fenrir Greyback hunting him, attacking his child, and then spending Remus's entire childhood moving around so people didn't become suspicious of his child's condition. He had years and years of trauma to deal with. Though in Rory's case she had packed quite a lot of trauma into her last three months at school.
She wiped a stray tear from her face and nodded.
"Well, one thing is for certain. You needed to get out of the house," Lyall said. "Let's say you and I walk into town tonight and have dinner?"
"Sounds lovely," Rory replied.
Rory spent dinner telling Lyall all about her previous two years of school. She tried not to gush about Harry, but part of her couldn't help herself. Not to mention so much of what happened the last two years involved him.
"Good gracious, you really are smitten," Lyall said. "I remember my first love. I remember thinking of no one else day or night and feeling like I might die when I didn't see her."
"Whatever happened to her?" Lyall asked.
"Who knows. I met your grandmother after I started working for the ministry," Lyall said. "First love isn't always your only love, Aurora."
"I know," Rory said with a sigh. "But I imagine it's much easier when it is."
"Just promise me you won't settle. If you feel like he's not up to your standards in any way give him the boot. Even if it hurts. You have to do what's best for you in the long term," Lyall said.
"I will remember that," Rory said. And she would. Because her grandfather always gave her excellent advice.
"I'll be honest, I don't think there's anyone out there who's good enough for you," Lyall said.
"You sound like Dad," Rory said.
"We are related as it turns out," Lyall said.
Rory rolled her eyes. "You'd like Harry if you met him. Dad thinks he's great."
"Remus is biased being that Harry's father was his best friend coming up," Lyall said. "But I'm sure he's wonderful. If he's still around a year from now I'll consider having a chat with him. Have to make sure he's really going to stick around before I become invested."
"I suppose that's fair," Rory said. "But I have a good feeling about him."
"When you're young and in love you always have a good feeling," Lyall said.
"You're bringing me down a little bit with how dubious you're being about Harry," Rory said. "What if I'm right about him?"
"I will happily eat my words and still feel as though you can do better," Lyall said.
Rory sighed. "I'll allow it I suppose. But I think Harry is perfectly perfect."
"No one is perfect. Not me, not you, not Remus, not my wife, and not Harry Potter," he said. "Loving someone and accepting all of their flaws, that's when you know it's real."
Rory couldn't imagine Harry having any flaws other than his inability to stay awake during class. He did have a tendency to get into trouble, but none of that was actually his fault. Bad things happened to him that were beyond his control.
"You don't believe me," Lyall said. "This is a first."
"It's not that I don't believe you," Rory said. "I just, I dunno. I know Harry."
"You're barely 15. You don't even know yourselves yet," he replied. "Didn't you just discover you were a seer? Who knows what you'll learn tomorrow."
"Nothing else I hope," she sighed. "I've had enough Divination related excitement for a lifetime."
When Remus woke in his childhood bedroom, he was unsurprised to see Aurora sleeping in the lounging chair in the corner of the room. It was well into the afternoon, he knew. His body had its own circadian rhythm during the full moon. He'd been waking up around the same time once a month for the past thirty some odd years.
And for the last decade or so, when he woke, his daughter had always fallen asleep keeping vigil over him.
He felt absolutely miserable. Stiff and sore all over, which was par for the course. He was perpetually sore and stiff, especially the older he got. But he managed to sit up and look out the window. It was raining, of course. He once mentioned in passing to Aurora that he often got headaches when it rained suddenly after a few blissful days of sunshine. This caused her to give a very detailed explanation of air pressure and its effect on the human body.
Remus didn't know when Aurora had time to amass such a volume of knowledge, but he was much the same.
"You're the smart one, Moony," James always told him.
Remus and Aurora were alike in so many ways, it was hard to imagine that she wasn't his biological daughter.
Remus could smell breakfast in the other room so he got out of bed. He lifted Aurora from the chair and carried her over to the bed. She didn't stir a bit from being moved. She was probably exhausted from staying up all night on top of not sleeping well in the first place.
He exited the room quietly, being sure to leave the door ajar for Aurora, and found his father sitting at the table. One hard-boiled egg, two slices of bacon, and a cup of coffee. It was a wonder Aurora wasn't actually related to his father.
"Scrambled some for you," Lyall said motioning to the stove.
"Thank you," Remus replied.
"And you'll have to take your coffee black, I'm afraid," Lyall said.
"Don't worry. Aurora has me well trained on that front," Remus said. "She takes after you."
Lyall nodded. "She always sleeps that badly?"
Remus frowned. "I was hoping being here might help settle her a bit."
"Afraid not. She fell asleep but woke up half an hour later nearly inconsolable. I'm surprised she was able to wake back up when you came in," Lyall said. "Poor girl. And this," he tapped the copy of The Daily Prophet sitting on the table in front of him, "rubbish. That child can't even fall asleep with the lights off. What on earth do they think happened to her?"
"I don't think anyone contests that Barty Crouch Jr. was responsible for holding her hostage. But believing her about the murder is a different story. And obviously no one believes anything Harry and Dumbledore are saying right now."
Lyall let out a deep breath. Then he looked at Remus seriously.
"You like this Potter boy?" he asked.
Remus stifled a chuckle as he poured a cup of coffee. "Not what I expected you to say."
"Well if Aurora's 'in love' with some boy, I want to make sure he's up to standard," Lyall said.
Remus didn't comment on his father's use of air quotes because he was almost certain that Lyall believed Aurora was too young to be in love. Remus decided a long time ago that he wasn't going to argue about his daughter about her feelings be they big or small. If she said she was in love she was in love.
"I'd say Harry's very up to standard, though I do wish she'd decided on someone whose life is a bit less—"
"Fraught with danger," Lyall scoffed.
"I was going to say 'chaotic' but that works also," Remus said.
"And what's You-Know-Who going to think about Harry Potter hanging around a seer?" Lyall asked.
That was the question. What was Voldemort going to do with the information of a seer like Aurora being on their team? There was no doubt that he knew. Crouch had said as much under the influence of vertiserum. His intent had been to take her to Voldemort. Whether he was ordered to do so or was acting upon his own will, they would never know.
In the meantime, she was going to get the same treatment Harry got. Remus didn't tell his dad that he'd had his house put under surveillance while he was out, but they couldn't risk Voldemort getting his hands on Aurora anymore than they could risk Harry. Remus didn't know what he would do if anything happened to either of them.
"We're keeping her safe. It's all we can do right now," Remus said.
"I don't like it," Lyall said.
"You think I do?" Remus asked. "I don't want to trouble her with thinking about all that. She's got enough worries already."
"She's going to need to talk to someone. That's the only way she's going to start feeling better and feeling safe," Lyall said. Remus opened his mouth to speak, but his father held up a hand. "Won't be you."
"Why not? She tells me most things," Remus said.
"You're too close. She'll want some distance," Lyall said. "Tried to get her to talk last night, but she wouldn't shut up about that boyfriend of hers."
Every other letter he got from Aurora this past year had been about Harry. She wrote an entire essay about how life changing it was to be on stage with one of her favorite bands, how their lead singer had hugged her, and she still managed to work in "It all pales in comparison to the wonderful time I had with Harry."
Which she then seemed to recount in detail.
She did spend a lot of time talking about Harry since she'd been home as well, but not just Harry. She talked about everything that happened at school except the bad things that happened. She didn't speak a peep on the nightmares and panic attacks or anything.
But Remus thought about all the things he didn't tell his parents because he didn't want them to worry over him any more than they already did. It occurred to Remus that Rory would probably start to draw a line of what things she would tell him when it came to Harry, but it was just sinking in that there were loads of other things she would probably never tell him.
Down the hall, he heard Aurora groan and the telltale sound of her dragging her feet across the floor. She walked into the kitchen, bleary-eyed, rubbing her neck.
"I've fallen asleep in that chair a thousand times and it's never hurt my neck before today," she grumbled.
"I told you yesterday that you were an old man in a teenager's body," Remus said.
Aurora laughed humorlessly and poured herself a cup of coffee.
She certainly was getting older.
