From the playlist:

Here Comes The Sun - The Beatles

The 59th Street Bridge Song - Simon and Garfunkel

Ch. 13 - The Mail

Remus stirred, hearing the faint sound of rummaging in the kitchen.

His arm sprawled to the other side of the bed; empty, but still warm.

Emmeline.

Emmeline Vance.

Emmeline Vance was here.

Merlin almighty. Emmeline.

After ten months and three days, Emmeline Vance had spent the night in his bed.

And now, she was going to live with him again.

Remus opened his eyes smiling like an idiot. He even started to chuckle. He was miles away from the lonely monster who'd contemplated perpetual singleness only hours before; but cloud nine had a nasty habit of clouding up his decision making abilities.

Now that the fever had broken and he was mostly caught up on sleep, he should have been able to get out of bed with more ease; but as he tried to sit up he recoiled, swearing. His lower back and hips were killing him. He reckoned he should have known that he would end up paying the price for paradise, but he hadn't contended with these kinds of twinges in ten months. Still, he didn't care. If he only ever waited to have sex when he wasn't in pain in some regard, he'd have to resort to chastity, the merits of which, as previously stated, were not of interest to him at the moment. Not when he had Emmeline Vance downstairs.

Gingerly, he shimmied himself off the mattress and pulled on some pajama bottoms, noticing the trail of clothing leading from the bedroom out into the hallway. He rubbed his face, smiling again.

When he descended the stairs, Emmeline was prancing about his kitchen in his wrinkled button-up, and he luxuriated in the few moments he had just to marvel at her before she noticed. Amid his soreness, Remus 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 saw that he'd woken up, she grinned guiltily. "I was trying to be romantic, but I'm afraid you don't have much in the way of breakfast," she lamented, opening one more cupboard to check its contents. Her eyes lit up when she saw it: "Aha!" she rejoiced, snatching out one dented can of beans.

Remus raised an eyebrow.

"...It's a start," she shrugged.

He made his way into the kitchen, wrapping his arms around her waist from behind as she was closing the cupboard. 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," she purred.

"It is, indeed, a good morning." Remus leaned forward into her lips once more.

"How's it feel to have a roommate again?"

"Splendid."

"Oh?"

"Especially when my roommate is so…"

"...So…?"

"...Tantalizing."

Emmeline raised her eyebrows. "Tantalizing?"

"Alluring."

"My, my."

"Spectacular."

"This roommate of yours sounds too good to be true."

"She is."

"Anything else?"

"Well if you must know, she's remarkably beautiful."

She brushed her fingers along a scar on his collarbone. "That so?"

"Mhm."

"So's mine."

"It isn't nice to lie," he chuckled, pressing his forehead to hers.

"He's a handsome devil, and how dare he call me a liar."

"Handsome, you say?"

"Yep. And wildly charming."

"Goodness."

"And luckily, he's got the patience of Job and the forgiveness of a saint."

"Does he?"

"Did I mention he's fit as hell?"

"Do you have another roommate I don't know about?"

She giggled, pulling away to put the kettle on for him. When she came back, she looked him over, her smile diminishing.

"How are you feeling?"

"Wonderful."

"...How are you actually feeling?"

"Wonderful, and also quite sore," he admitted.

Emmeline looked repentant, and rubbed his back gently. "I'm sorry, it occurred to me this morning that I probably should've given you another day or so to recover."

He leaned back in and spoke against her lips. "Emmeline, I could've been recuperating from a fight with a bear, and I still would've taken you to bed. I wouldn't change last night for the world."

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 trotted to retrieve it.

"What is it?" Remus asked, leaning up against the counter, delighted that she already felt comfortable getting the mail.

"It's from Dumbledore." She came back to the kitchen and 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, but did 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'd be delighted if you would consider resuming your 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 good, isn't it?" asked Remus.

"Yeah...good…"

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 good.

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

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

"Why wouldn't you?"

Emmeline blinked a few times. "...I've sort of got to get a job again, 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 any rent," Remus assured her.

"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..."

"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. "...I haven't practiced any combat magic in ages, I'd be rusty."

"Alastor would give you a review. You were always good at it."

"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 invitation than she cared to divulge, 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.

A rumble from his gut reminded Remus 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 hypnosis by 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 down the road?" Or, probably, four or five pastries.

Emmeline grinned and set the letter down on the counter. She could no longer conceal her own grumbling stomach, and she'd missed that bakery. "That sounds marvelous," she agreed, kissing him on her way to the stairs to go get dressed.

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

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