8: Remus Lupin - N.M. Part One

Warning! This is part one of two, and is a slight angst I guess, but of course there's a happy ending. There's also a sizable age gap between Remus and (y/n), but I don't want ANY hurtful comments.

House: Hufflepuff

 Remus Lupin and I had been together for about five months, us having both fell for each other long before that but due to particular circumstances, people would've looked down on a relationship between the two of us - not because he was a werewolf, but because when we first met and when we fell for each other, I was a student and he was a professor.

During my last year of Hogwarts, Remus came to our school to replace the now indisposed Lockhart as the Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor, and it was during my very first class with him that I fell for him. Over time my feelings just got worse and worse, especially as the pair of us became so close that he considered me a friend outside of class. One day I ended up loosing control and I confessed to him, spilling out all of my emotions only to have him turn me away. I knew that rejection was inevitable, after all despite me being eighteen he was a teacher and I was a student.

I ended up avoiding him after my confession, even skipping his classes until one evening he caught me by surprise, stopping me in an empty corridor and admitting that he felt the same way about me. After we spent the night together, we realised that we'd have to keep our relationship a secret until I graduated, if not a fair while after to prevent us from being suspicious, however with the end of my year at Hogwarts came Remus' resignation, so we both left Hogwarts at the same time, us able to officially be together.

Nothing made me happier, as we were now an official couple living together in his small apartment that he had apologised for numerous times. He pointed out that as a werewolf it was difficult for him to find work to pay for a grander place, but I assured him that as long as I was with him I would be happy.

Life together was perfect, for the most part. There were many occasions, particularly around a full moon, when he'd believe I deserved better. He'd say that he was too old and too poor for me, that he was too much trouble and not worth dealing with. Every time he said such words it hurt, not only because I didn't care about any of that but because I thought he was trying to push me away. Often after these fights we'd spend a while in silence before finally my repeated 'I don't care!'s got through to him and he apologised.

Thankfully however a fight like that hadn't occurred in a while, and I thought maybe he had finally realised just how much I loved him, and how I didn't care that he was thirty-five and that I was nineteen. I was happy with him and I wanted him to accept that.

The pair of us were in our shared apartment, it being late and after a particularly steamy session, I was now laid naked upon his bare chest, his fingers running through my hair as I listened to his heartbeat. "So, you ready to meet Sirius tomorrow?"

Remus had told me everything about Sirius Black and his other old Hogwarts friends. He told me about Sirius' innocence and about how he was framed by another one of their close friends, Peter Pettigrew. I remembered the story very well, each detail being just as shocking as the next: James and Lily Potter being targeted by Voldemort, Pettigrew having turned to the dark side, the revelation of Pettigrew being the Potters Secret Keeper as opposed to Sirius. Remus was incredibly emotional whilst telling me the story, understandably of course but I comforted him throughout him telling me.

Remus assured me of Sirius' innocence, but of course Sirius still being a wanted man meant he had to go into hiding. He had sent a letter to Remus, signing it off with his high school nickname 'Padfoot', giving Remus his location and teasing Remus about me. "Yeah, he seems like one hell of a character," I chuckled, remembering his letter.

"You can say that again," Remus said, kissing the top of my head. I couldn't help but smile, snuggling closer to my boyfriend. "You'll like him, he's still surprisingly chirpy even after twelve years in Azkaban..." Remus' voice drifted off and I knew exactly what he was thinking.

"Remus, nothing that happened in Godric's Hollow that night was your fault," I said sternly, just as I had done many times before. He sighed, knowing that was the case but still having trouble accepting his best friends fate.

"I love you (y/n)," he whispered and I smiled again.

"I love you too," I looked up at him and kissed him passionately.

- Timeskip - - The Next Day -

We stood outside a row of posh white houses in London, looking between the letter Sirius had sent us and the buildings in front of us. We glanced at each other and shrugged our shoulders before Remus subtly did the wand movement Sirius instructed in his letter. Thankfully as the street was residential and it was a weekday we imagined most of the occupants to be at work, so when a new house began to grow between numbers eleven and twelve A, no one was around to witness it asides from us.

When fully erected Remus took my hand and approached the door carefully, it creaking open and revealing a dark hallway. "Remus, is this right?" I whispered, it feeling a little eerie. At the end of the corridor however I spotted a dog much to my surprise, and I almost jumped out of my skin when the dog barked,

"Come on Sirius, knock it off," Remus chuckled. The dog barked again before transforming back into a human, clothes and all.

"Welcome to Grimmauld Place, the House of Black, the Home of Horrors, whatever you wanna call it," Sirius said, approaching the pair of us. "And you must be (y/n)-," he paused as he got closer to the pair of us, his eyes wide.

"Yes, yes I'm (y/n), it's a pleasure to meet you," I said politely, stepping forward and holding out my hand which he took, the raising and eyebrow at Remus.

"Well I've set up the table in the kitchen, just at the end of the hallway," Sirius said, leading the way. Remus and I followed, pleasantly surprised to see an array of foods set out by a house elf who looked sick of his duties. "Go on now Kreacher," Sirius dismissed him, him bowing and leaving. "I assume Remus' told you about me (y/n), otherwise I doubt you would be so calm," he chuckled and I nodded.

"Yeah he's told me the whole thing," I said and he nodded. "It's quite the story..."

"Yeah, well... justice will prevail no doubt," Sirius looked up at Remus who nodded, and I had a feeling the pair of them were planning how they were going to kill Pettigrew. "Anyway, on a happier note I wanna know about you two," Sirius said.

"Of course you do," Remus said, not sounding surprised.

"So, how'd you meet," Sirius raised one eyebrow whilst looking at Remus, and I had a feeling he had already guessed our situation.

"How do you think we met?" Remus asked and Sirius laughed.

"He was always the most mischievous out of the Marauders, the guy just knew how to not get caught. So a student, huh? That's a whole knew level," Sirius laughed.

"Well I've graduated now, that's how we've made things work and we've been together for five months now," I smiled at my boyfriend who nodded.

"Was quite a rollercoaster to begin with but now neither of us are at Hogwarts anymore, we're just like any other couple," Remus enforced and I nodded.

"We'll you both seem happy, that's the main thing," Sirius said. "Well dig in, don't let the food get cold!"

We spent a long while getting to know each other, him being kind and funny. He invited us to stay the night, saying he was glad of the company, and he even introduced us to his hippogriff Buckbeak, who he kept in a spare room upstairs. It was a lovely evening, and it was obvious that Sirius hadn't been this happy in a long time.

- Remus' POV -

"She's nice," Sirius said when (y/n) left the room to go to the toilet. "You seem happy together."

"We are," I nodded, thinking about my beautiful girlfriend. I did pause however, and that was something Sirius noticed.

"I feel like there's a 'but'," he said and I sighed, nodding.

"I'm sixteen years older than she is. Not only that but I'm out of a job, I live in the tiniest flat and on top of all of that I'm a werewolf. She deserves better than me, as much as I hate to admit it..."

"But you love her, don't you?" He asked. We had said those words to each other but sometimes I doubted them.

"I think so," I mumbled and Sirius raised his eyebrows.

"Look, I can't lie, sixteen years is quite a big age gap. When you realise that you're thirty-five and she's not even twenty, it's quite shocking," Sirius said and I gripped my hair tightly. I knew what he was trying to say, that I should be with someone my own age instead of ruining her chances for true happiness. "Although it doesn't seem as though she cares about the age gap. Plus it's not as if she's underage or anything, you're both adults. She seems to be in love with you, Remus," he said and I nodded but had a hard time trying to convince myself of that fact.

"Hey, what are you talking about?" (y/n)'s voice made the pair of us jump as she walked back into the room.

"Just old times," Sirius lied and I nodded.

"Well we probably ought to get going, it's getting late," I said, realising it was now night.

"You'll come back soon, won't you?" Sirius asked quickly, and I knew he was scared to be alone despite having Buckbeak for company upstairs.

"Yeah, absolutely," (y/n) beamed and I nodded in agreement.

"I'll see you soon Sirius," I assured him, pulling him in for a hug. (y/n) and I left a moment later, heading home hand in hand, however the conversation I had just had with Sirius kept on playing on my mind.

- Timeskip -

Another two months had passed, and a fair few things had changed in our life. We had now moved in with Sirius to not only keep him company but to have more space. I had a job interview coming up also, however I had no smart clothes for the occasion so whilst (y/n) was at work I headed to Diagon Alley with the intention of going to Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions.

When I entered the store I went straight to the smart shirts, wanting a more classic outfit rather than posh robes. There was one other wizard in the store being helped by a lady I'd not noticed before. She seemed somewhat familiar but I couldn't quite put my finger on it.

I distracted myself by looking at the clothes, however as soon as the other wizard had left the store the lady was beside me, startling me slightly. "Hello, is there anything I can help you with?" She asked with a smile.

"Er, yeah I guess, I'm looking for a simple smart outfit for a job interview," I said, gesturing the shirts, however when I looked back up at her I saw she was staring at me, making me shuffle awkwardly.

"Oh, sorry, I just feel as though we've met before," she said, surprising me a little. "Are you Remus Lupin?"

"Yeah... sorry, who are you?" I asked awkwardly and she let out a sweet laugh.

"I'm not surprised you don't remember me, but we went to Hogwarts together. I was in the year below you, my name's Nova Malkin," she protruded her hand for me to shake. The name rang a bell, and slowly she was beginning to come back to me.

"Oh yeah, I remember you, you were on the Ravenclaw Quidditch team weren't you?" I asked and she nodded, blushing slightly. "So, what're you doing here?"

"Well I'm Madam Malkin's granddaughter, she's going to be passing the shop onto me so I've started working here to learn everything I need to," she said.

"Oh congratulations," I praised her and she blushed again. It was somehow oddly satisfying that I could make her blush like that.

"So what have you done since Hogwarts?" She asked.

"Just this and that, I was a teacher at Hogwarts last year but I wasn't really cut it for it," I shrugged. "So now I've got this interview coming up... what shirts would you recommend?" We spent a while going through her stock, until we finally decided on a nice looking outfit.

"Hey, erm, I don't know if this is inappropriate given the fact we've just been reacquainted but... perhaps you'd like to get a coffee together? Have a proper catch up?" She suggested whilst batting her eyelids, catching me off-guard.

"Yeah," I said, without realising what I was agreeing to. "Yeah sure."

Her eyes lit up at my answer and she immediately grabbed a card from the desk, writing on it before handing it to me. "We'll here's my number... call me and we can organise a date," she said, then winking and a pang hit my chest. 'She just meant a date as in a day... not a date as in a date' I tried to convince myself as I left the shop. I looked down at the card she'd given me, it being the shop's business card but she'd put her number on it along with her initials, and had even added a kiss. I glanced back up at the shop to see her looking at me through the window, winking at me again and waving. My heart felt a bit funny as I gulped, but I shook it off, stuffing the card into my jacket pocket before heading back to Grimmauld Place.

"Where've you been?" (y/n) surprised me as I entered the house.

"What do you mean? What are you doing back from work?" I asked as we walked up the stairs towards our bedroom.

"Remus it's 17:45, I finished my shift forty-five minutes ago and I heard you've been gone since 15:00, I just got worried about you," she mumbled and I couldn't help but smile at her adorableness.

"I was just looking for the perfect outfit for my interview next week," I said, gesturing the bag.

"We'll, let's see then," she smirked, folding her arms. "Oh come one, I never get to see you in anything fancy, all you wear is jumpers and worn jeans," she laughed and I rolled my eyes, trying the outfit on for her. To my surprise her eyes widened and she bit her lip sexily, staring me. "Wow," she said simply and I raised my eyebrows. "After that interview we're going to have sex with you wearing that, understand?" She asked and I felt my cheeks heat up as I pinched the bridge of my nose.

"You're always so blunt," I laughed and she jumped into my arms.

"Yeah, but you love it," she whispered seductively, the tone of her voice turning me on slightly.

"Yeah, I do," I agreed, pulling her in for a deep kiss.

It was merely the next day when I found myself stood in the phone booth that was down the road, staring at the card in my hand. The more I looked at it, the more I knew this was a bad idea. Despite me seeing it as a friendly catch up I knew Nova saw it as something more. She was expecting a date whereas I was just expecting coffee. Not only that but the idea of being out with a woman who thought of the meet up as a date felt like I was betraying (y/n). She was my girlfriend, the woman I loved and there was no way I was going to risk that.

I dialled the number on the card, waiting for Nova to answer. "Hello Nova?" I said when I heard her answer. "It's Remus."

"Remus! Hello, I've been waiting for you to call," she said, sounding incredibly eager.

"Look, I'm sorry but I can't meet up with you. A friendly catch up would've been fine but I know you want something more, I know you want us to go on a date but I can't. I have a girlfriend who I'm very happy with, so I'm sorry if I misled you," I was completely honest.

"O-oh... I see," she said, her tone sounding sad. "Im sorry I assumed, I shouldn't have," she added quickly.

"No it's okay, I think we both misunderstood each other," I said and she let out a light laugh.

"Well thank you for letting me know," she said and I nodded despite her not being able to see me.

"Sure. Well, goodbye," I said awkwardly, her returning a farewell before the pair of us hung up. "That was awkward," I said to myself before heading back to Grimmauld Place.

- Timeskip - - (y/n)'s POV -

It was the day of Remus' job interview and I could tell he was nervous but I tried to assure him he'd do great. Whilst he was gone and as it was my day off, I decided to get a bit of the housework done, starting with washing our clothes. I didn't like leaving Kreacher to do it all, especially as technically Remus and I weren't part of the family he served despite living here.

I went through our shared wardrobe, looking for things with marks on when I found Remus' jacket. It didn't surprise me when I saw a coffee stain on it, so before I threw it onto the pile of clothes to wash I checked the pockets, feeling a small bit of card. I pulled it out, surprised to see a business card for Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions, however what shocked me more was what was written on the card.

'Can't wait for your call, N.M. x' it said and I felt a lurch in my stomach. I read the words over and over again, my brain automatically going to the worst. 'No, Remus would never do anything like that,' I tried to convince myself, however curiosity got the better of me and I found myself leaving Grimmauld Place, telling Sirius I had been called into work. I went to the phone booth down the road and dialled the number on the card, listening to the rings with a sick feeling in my stomach. "Hello, Nova Malkin speaking," an elegant voice spoke and my eyes widened. Immediately I hung up, finding myself clutching onto my heart as I slowly felt it break in two.

Without thinking I found myself heading in the direction of Diagon Alley, and subtly standing across the street from the robe shop, peering in. From where I was stood I saw a woman, a beautiful woman with a pretty smile. She looked to be around Remus' age, and suddenly everything fell into place. Every single one of those fights we'd had whenever he said he was told old for me was him secretly saying that he believed I was too young, despite us both being adults. He was seeing this lady behind my back, this beautiful lady who he must've believed was better suited for him.

I felt tears of heartbreak come to my eyes however I refused to let them fall until I was alone. It was hard keeping the sobs in until I was back in my room at Grimmauld Place, finally collapsing and letting out silent sobs, hoping Sirius wouldn't hear me. "(y/n)? Back already?" He shouted through the bedroom door.

"I-I forgot my apron!" I called out, it being a reasonable excuse as to why I was back so early. Fiercely I wiped my eyes, swiping a photo of Remus and I off of the chest of drawers, the frame shattering on the ground.

Fuelled by hurt and betrayal, I pulled out a travel bag and began stuffing it with my clothes and belongings. I needed time away, I couldn't see him, not without having a clearer head. I decided to leave a note for him, putting the card with Malkin's number on next to it so that he knew that his dirty little secret had been found out. I felt sick, tears streaming from my eyes as I couldn't quite believe what had happened, but I knew I couldn't stay.

As quickly as I could I left, heading to one place I knew I could stay until I had cleared my head and was strong enough to face him about the situation: The Leaky Cauldron.