Moonlight

A Dance with a Stranger and a Belated Birthday Present


Remus entered the tent just as the chamber orchestra was tuning up at the other end.

Inside the tent there was now a wooden dance floor bordered by round tables covered in white tablecloth. Again there was the theme of white lily and rose décor. On one side of the tent, a long buffet table was set up, holding leftovers of the wedding breakfast as well as some new additions, and there was also a mini-bar set up where beer, wine, and spirits were going to be served.

Remus weaved in and out of people as he made his way towards it.

"Hello, Remus!"

Remus jumped. "Ah! Hagrid! Sorry. Er...didn't see you there."

Hagrid chortled. In his giant hand he held a flagon out of which he was drinking. Evidently he'd already paid the mini-bar a visit. "Yeh must've really had yer head in the clouds then, if yeh didn't even notice me."

"Heh, heh, yes well...I'm er, going to have a drink, I think."

"Not one for dancing, eh?"

"Not particularly, no. Though I might if I find a pretty bird lacking a partner."

"Oh, yeh're just such a gentleman, ain't yeh?"

Remus chuckled. "So I've been told. Cheers, Hagrid."

"Cheers, Remus!" Hagrid raised his flagon as if toasting him.

Remus looked about as he continued on his way towards the mini-bar and saw that some people stood around the edges of the empty dance floor, and some sat at the other round tables. All of the little children were running around, playing in their own little world.

He followed them with his gaze as they made their way around the outside of the dance floor, weaving in and out of people's legs. He watched as they came rushing towards where he stood, felt them as they whizzed by behind him. The one in the rear however--whom Remus recognized as little Nymphadora Tonks--tripped up and fell behind.

The other children ahead laughed and kept on running.

"Hey!" Nymphadora shouted indignantly after them in a South London accent similar to Sirius'. "That's not cricket! Wait for me!" She struggled to get back up on her feet, which were now bare and free of inhibiting dress shoes. Unfortunately her skirts were giving her trouble.

"Hello there, Nymphadora," said Remus kindly, bending over her. "My name is Remus Lupin."

Nymphadora blinked up at him and smiled. "Wotcher, Mister Lupin!" she said. She seemed to love meeting new people.

"Would you like a hand?" he asked, offering his.

"No thank you, I can do it." Nymphadora smiled as if to reassure him. Then she fell down into the dirt again.

The chamber orchestra began to play a slow and gentle sonata, and Remus looked up to see Sirius lead Aurelia by the hand onto the dance floor for the traditional best man-chief bridesmaid dance.

"Look, it's your cousin Sirius," he said to Nymphadora as Sirius and Aurelia placed themselves in the standard closed position of ballroom waltzing.

As they began to dance to the music, their eyes maintaining focused contact, Nymphadora asked, "What? Sirius? What's he doing?"

"He's dancing with the chief bridesmaid." And thereby being forced to look her in the eyes for once, Remus added to himself.

Nymphadora got to her feet at last and pushed past him to have a look. Then she glanced up at him over her shoulder. "Why's he dancing with her? And why's it just them?"

"He has to dance with her before everyone else does," Remus explained. "He's the best man, and so part of his job is to start the dancing by dancing with the chief bridesmaid."

"Why doesn't everyone just start dancing? Why do they need them to do a dance by themselves first?"

"It's just the tradition."

"Oh."

Sirius broke off from the box step and led Aurelia in a series of graceful turns and spins as the music gradually increased. Then he led her in a reverse turn and went turning and spinning them the other way. Next he twirled her a couple of times, and finally, as the sonata entered its final crescendo, Sirius and Aurelia spun round and round and round and then stopped. Without swaying from dizziness, Sirius used the sonata's final few quavering notes to dip Aurelia slowly. At the sonata's end, Remus joined everyone else in applauding, while Sirius and Aurelia rose slowly back up, still locked in each other's gazes.

Then the chamber orchestra began a lively courante, and other couples, including James and Lily and both of their parents and Peter and Maggie, joined Sirius and Aurelia on the dance floor. Sirius and Aurelia meanwhile continued to dance with each other in step with everyone else as if they two were still the only ones on the dance floor.

Remus looked down and saw that Nymphadora had slipped off, no doubt to rejoin her playmates. With a sigh he approached the mini-bar and asked for a butterbeer. He turned to see James and Lily and Sirius and Aurelia and Peter and Maggie spinning and turning fast in time with the lively courante.

A woman approached and asked for a goblet of Holland gin.

Remus glanced at her and for a moment his heart stopped, thinking the woman was Bellatrix Lestrange. But then he realized...what would she be doing here? And anyway, this woman had long dark brown hair, not long black, and her indigo eyes and manner of speaking and acting were both kind and good. She wore a navy blue wide brimmed hat on her head, and she was quite beautiful actually. Her simple, sleeveless navy blue dress had a slit on one side, which gave Remus a view of her bare lower leg, and the sensual pair of high-heeled shoes she was wearing. But the gentle curves of her hourglass figure, and structure of her face still highly resembled that of Bellatrix.

She caught him staring at her. "Yes? Can I help you, sir?" she asked, quirking a sly smile that was curiously akin to Sirius'. Her accent was akin to Sirius' as well, and to Nymphadora's.

Remus tilted his head at her. "Are you...Andromeda Tonks?"

"I am." Andromeda Tonks' smile widened. "And you must be Remus Lupin, correct?" She turned around and leaned back against the mini-bar, folding her arms.

"Er...how did you know?"

"Sirius told me about you. You were standing next to him at the altar. You've got the grey hairs he mentioned. Bit young though, aren't you?"

Did she know he was a werewolf...?

The music changed from a courante into a gavotte, and James, Lily, Sirius, Aurelia, Peter, Maggie, and all the others on the dance floor linked hands with each other and began gavotting in time.

"Here's your butterbeer, sir," said the barman, handing Remus his drink.

"Thank you," said Remus, taking the drink and giving it a small sip. "Mmm. To answer your question, Andromeda: everyone is different after all. Er...grey hair early on in life is not unheard of. Rare, perhaps, but not unheard of."

Andromeda laughed. "I won't argue with that one, that's for sure. I should know. Just look at my daughter, Nymphadora. Has Sirius told you about her? She was the flower girl today."

"Ah, yes, he has told me about her. I thought she handled herself very well coming down the aisle."

Andromeda raised a rather accusatory eyebrow. "You're not taking the mickey out of her, are you?"

"Oh no, of course not," said Remus at once. "I'm never one to ridicule. And what I meant was that despite the fact that she kept tripping and whatnot, she kept right on going. I only admire such a quality because I myself could not have handled the situation like that. I...er...would have surely turned tail and run."

Andromeda's expression softened and she laughed again. "I don't think so," she said as she briefly adjusted the wedding ring on her finger and then refolded her arms. "You don't look like the running away type. And anyway, I was testing you to see if you really are as 'terribly gentlemanlike' as Sirius has told me you are."

"Did he use those exact words? 'Terribly gentlemanlike'?"

"Here's your Holland gin, ma'am," said the barman.

"Thank you," said Andromeda, taking the drink. Then she said to Remus, "Well, it's Sirius, after all."

"Good point."

"Love, you just had a glass of champagne." The young and burly blond gentleman into whose lap Remus had observed Nymphadora leap and sit down in while watching the wedding ceremony accosted Andromeda. He was dressed in a grey morning suit with a dark red waistcoat. "Any more alcohol and you'll stumble all over the dance floor."

"Oh, Ted, don't fuss," said Andromeda. She took a sip of her drink and then went on. "Remus, this is my husband, Ted Tonks. Ted, this is Remus Lupin. He's another one of Sirius' best mates."

"Pleased to meet you, Remus," smiled Ted, shaking Remus' hand.

"Likewise," Remus replied warmly. He was jarred unexpectedly by the strength in Ted's overzealously hearty handshake.

The gavotte changed in melody, and James, Lily, Sirius, Aurelia, Peter, Maggie, and the other dancers on the dance floor began gavotting to it in the reverse direction.

"Well, shall we dance after you've finished?" Ted asked his wife.

Andromeda glanced up at him from taking another sip of her drink. "Of course, love."

"You planning on dancing at all, Remus?" Ted asked.

Remus half-choked on his next swallow of drink. He gulped and said, "Oh...no, I'm not the dancing sort."

"Oh Remus, you're not really the unfun bloke Sirius told me you were too, are you?" Andromeda said in a theatrically disappointed tone.

"I'm sure he's just shy, darling," said Ted with a smile that was perhaps a little too understanding.

"Well, only around members of the opposite sex whom I find attractive," Remus admitted, taking another sip of his drink.

Andromeda and Ted both laughed.

"However," Remus went on, "I'd be obliged to dance with a woman who lacked a partner." And it was true. Though he hadn't planned on dancing at all at the wedding, he knew that if he happened upon some poor, desolate woman in want of a partner but couldn't get one, he would gladly offer to dance with her.

"What did I tell you, Ted?" said Andromeda. "He's a perfect gentleman. Just like you." She looked lovingly up into Ted's face.

"Yes, but I've got myself a dance partner right here," Ted grinned mischievously, grabbing Andromeda's hips from behind and pulling her closer before bending his head lovingly towards her neck.

"Okay, okay," Andromeda giggled. "I can see you're getting antsy." She drained the last bit of her Holland gin, and then set it on the mini-bar for the barman to collect. "I think somebody had more to drink than champagne other than me."

"Alright, you've got me," said Ted in a tone of guilty suavity, pulling away and taking Andromeda by the arm. "I did come round here and have one quick shot of firewhiskey."

"I thought so." Andromeda turned to Remus. "It was lovely meeting you, Remus."

"Yeah, we'll have to chat again sometime," said Ted as he led Andromeda towards the dance floor.

They joined the other dancers just as the music changed to a slow and tender sarabande.

Remus finished his own drink, suddenly feeling his insides plummet with an unexpected bout of depression. He set down his empty glass on the mini-bar.

The barman asked if that would be all. Remus replied in the negative, and requested a shot of firewhiskey. The barman obliged and gave him a shot glass of an undiluted form of the alcoholic beverage.

Remus knocked the entire thing back, swallowed, and gasped for air, his eyes streaming, as the sensation of swallowing a mouthful of flames spread through his mouth, down his esophagus, smoking his lungs and burning the linings of his stomach. But it passed quickly enough, and as Remus straightened and handed the barman the empty glass, he felt the pleasant though brief rush of euphoria bubble up in his head.

He asked for another and repeated the entire procedure.

After that second shot, the chamber orchestra picked up the tempo again as it transitioned from the sarabande into the gigue.

As Remus handed his glass over, the barman said, "You're one of them blokes, ain't yeh?" in a sympathetic voice.

Remus blinked at him. "Why whatever do you mean, old chap?" he asked quite pleasantly. His insides were positively crawling with joviality.

"You're one of them blokes who's in love with the bride," replied the barman sagely.

Remus glanced over his shoulder and saw Lily being lifted and spun round in the air by James, her veil removed, her hair unpinned and swirling like a twist of fire about her shoulders. He smiled back at the barman. "Why yes, I am! I am so very much in love with her...." He sighed, but continued beaming.

"Care to share?" the barman asked. "Why'd you give her up? Or did you ever have her to give up in the first place?"

"Oh, I did have her. Or at least I could have. She offered herself to me in our sixth year at Hogwarts."

"But...?"

"...I pushed her away."

"I see. Aren't the commit-to-a-relationship sort?"

"No, not that."

"She was already with someone else and you didn't like encouraging her to cheat on him?"

"No."

"I'd ask if you preferred blokes, but you said you loved her, so...what? Thought you just didn't deserve her?"

Luckily Remus had not had so much alcohol that his inhibitions were not completely impaired, but with the alcohol already in his bloodstream, he essayed to choose his words carefully nonetheless. "Something like that," he began slowly.

~

Time flew as Remus and the barman talked about love and lost chances. When their conversation entered a lull, Remus looked about and saw that Hagrid was talking with Mad-Eye at one table, and outside the sky was a pale gold and the clouds were violet. It was already sunset.

The chamber orchestra now played a slow sonatina, and Elphias announced that the bride would like to share a dance with her father, and as everyone else cleared the dance floor, Lily and Harry Evans remained and began to dance to the sonatina, which eventually transitioned into a quick-paced ballet, and then into another slow, sweet, and tender sarabande. Remus fixed his gaze on Lily's radiant face as she smiled just as affectionately as her father smiled back at her....

"Hey, Remus! You've been sitting back here in this depressing little corner all this time?"

Remus snapped out of his trance to see Sirius arrive at the mini-bar. With him was Aurelia, who kept a little bit behind him while he asked the barman for two goblets of amaretto.

"Yes, I have," said Remus irksomely. "What of it?"

"No need to get testy," said Sirius, holding up his hands.

"Well, have you two been dancing all this time?"

"We have, Remus, and it's been wonderful," said Aurelia. She seemed to glow with golden light as she glanced at Sirius.

"Though tiring," added Sirius. "Ah, thank you," he added as the barman handed him two crystal goblets of amaretto. He gave one to Aurelia, who thanked him as she took it. Then Sirius said to Remus, "I'm telling you, mate: that Edwina Malkin's pining for you."

"How do you know?"

"She was telling us about it when we sat down for a moment," said Aurelia, taking a sip of her drink as Sirius was doing. "Come along Sirius, we've got to mingle a little!"

"Right behind you!" Sirius followed Aurelia, and said over his shoulder, "Cheers, Remus!"

Remus sighed. The father-daughter dance ended, and the music transitioned into a joyful little aria as other dancers refilled the dance floor. Lily led her father off of it to go chat with James and their parents at a round table on the other side of the tent. He watched her toss her head back as she laughed that glorious laugh of hers....

He turned to the barman and asked for a goblet of armagnac. While he sipped on that, he watched as the dancing, laughter, and talking of the other guests continued. When he finished, he gave the barman his empty goblet, and then strolled around the dance floor to the other side of the tent.

Edwina Malkin sat alone at a table, sipping on a goblet of limoncello that someone who had no intention of dancing with her must have brought her. Her curly brunette hair was pinned up in an elegant bun with a few forelocks on either side of her face hanging down in beautiful corkscrews. Her high-collared halter dress was the color of dark scarlet...the color of fresh, warm blood....

He approached her. Even as he stood right before her, she did not look up. Her lonely eyes were watching the jubilant dancers on the dance floor.

But she's so much older than you....

"Hello, Miss Malkin," said Remus quietly.

Edwina looked up. The very sight of him seemed to render her breathless. "Oh.... H-Hello, Mister Lupin," she said tremulously.

"May I have the pleasure of this next dance?" Remus asked, offering her his hand.

As if in a trance, Edwina took his hand--it was soft and warm, Remus noted--and, abandoning her drink, allowed Remus to lead her out onto the dance floor.

The chamber orchestra began to play a sinfonia in G in a vivace tempo. Remus assumed the closed position with Edwina, and turned and spun them round and round with Lily and James, and Sirius and Aurelia, and Peter and Maggie, and Andromeda and Ted, and everyone else on the dance floor. Remus concentrated on her pale blue eyes, as he swept her across the polished wood, leading her in rising and falling motions with the flow of the music. He only broke his gaze with hers briefly when he heard James and Sirius yell, "Atta boy, Moony!"

Remus felt bliss descend on him, crawl inside his skin like before....

He picked Edwina up by the waist and spun her in the air.

Edwina laughed with surprise and joy.

Remus laughed with her, also surprised and full of joy....

Then the music's tempo shifted from vivace to a slow grave, so sad and gentle, and full of sweet despair.

Remus' heart clenched. The music's mood seemed to awaken the yawning chasm of desolation inside of him....

He stopped.

Edwina was forced to stop with him. "Remus?" She peered curiously up into his face.

Remus looked at Lily as James held her close and they both swayed in time with the dolefully beautiful music. He replied to Edwina in a hollow voice, "I have to...go." Mechanically he released her hand and her waist, tore his eyes from Lily as he turned on his heel, and walked away. Since he did not hear Edwina call out his name, he assumed he must have left her standing there, staring forlornly, her arms hanging limply at her sides, perhaps....

Through the marquee, he escaped the gaiety of the dancing within the tent. The sky had now turned pale purple and deep sapphire, with the last thin white and yellow strips of sunlight creating silhouettes of the trees in the distance. He crossed the dark lawn to the grand garden, which was now cloaked in obscurity. He went in and sauntered through its mazes, not heading in any particular direction. He felt for Lily's garter in his trouser pocket. When his hand found it, he began idly stroking it with his thumb, as he'd been doing clandestinely beneath the table during the speeches at the wedding breakfast--which, even though it had only occurred a few hours ago, seemed like it had occurred many years ago instead....

He moved around the garden in circles, just as his thoughts moved around in circles, most of them dwelling on Lily, naturally. He walked until he could see the glittering stars in the sky, and the moon...a waxing crescent...so early too...a mere sickle-shaped slit in the veil of night....

A lower section of the wall of boxwood to Remus' immediate left shook suddenly, as if something heavy had been knocked into it on the other side. Then he heard the sounds of a man and woman moaning.

He was no longer alone in the garden.

He was now privy to the sounds of a tryst, it seemed.

"Mm...Sirius...?" whispered the woman's voice breathlessly.

That was Aurelia!

Remus sucked in his breath, though silently.

"Yes, my darling...?" Sirius' voice murmured in reply.

"Are you quite...practiced...in this...?"

The rustling stopped.

Silence.

Remus didn't dare move, for fear of giving away his accidental presence.

Then Sirius' voice said, very quietly, "I am practiced in all things...except anything to do with...er...things found...erm...." Then his voice dropped another octave and Remus couldn't hear what he said after that.

It must have been amusing and appealingly suggestive, because Aurelia's giggle was coquettish. "Obviously.... Since you prefer using...euphemisms...."

Remus shook his head and walked away, out of earshot, their voices blending back in with the night. He wished to respect their privacy, not invade it. He still couldn't help but smile though.

He continued alone down more winding paths, and then, lost in his thoughts, walked straight into someone as he rounded a corner. "Oh! So sorry, I--Oh damn it." With his excellent night vision, he saw that it was Edwina, obviously having come here to wander hopelessly alone, just as he was doing.

He didn't understand. They had only met three or four days ago at the least! And he and she had barely talked even...!

Perhaps she had caught a sickness of sudden infatuation...those sorts of things always went around in summertime....

"Edwina."

"Remus."

They stood there for a moment, staring at the other's feet.

Then they dared to meet each other's eyes.

"I'm sorry," Remus whispered.

She said nothing. Her eyes were so sad.

Remus tried to speak the sadness away with his words. "I was--I had to--I wanted.... Everything was--I needed--I thought I'd--I-It was...." He took a deep breath and let it out. "I'm sorry."

Edwina smiled, the sadness disappeared. She glided towards him. She leaned up. She breathed in his ear: "Where's your bedroom...?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It should be noted here that Ted skimmed over this next part in the journal, only because he really didn't want to read too much detail on his own father's actions in such a particular context. However, for the reader, here is the relatively unabridged retelling of events if he or she is so inclined to read on....
(Just remember that if you do decide to skip, be sure to skip to just to the next ~ on the lefthand side of the page.)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Remus led Edwina by the hand down the darkened mansion hallway. He opened his door, and guided Edwina inside the pitch-black bedroom with a touch of his hand to her elbow.

"Lumos," Edwina whispered. The light bloomed from the end of her wand, and she crossed to the other side to light the lamps.

Remus shut her and himself inside as she did so, and the room filled with gold light, soft and subdued. Back pressed against the door, he watched Edwina put her wand light out, lay it beside the lamp on the table, and look at him.

He bit his lip.

Quickly he went to the one of two bedside tables and took out his own wand. He laid that down there, and he laid down Lily's garter beside it.

"You caught the garter," Edwina said.

Remus looked at her, and removed his jacket. "Yes...I did." He tossed the jacket over the back of the chair in the corner beside the bedside table.

Edwina swept her eyes down to the floor. "Have you ever done this before?"

"No," Remus croaked as he turned down the bed, pulling back the sheets and blankets. "Have you...?"

Edwina nodded. "Oh yes. Oh yes." She bent down and began unbuckling her pair of red, flat-soled sandals, which showed off the bright red nail polish on her toenails. She tossed them aside when she had removed them both.

Remus bowed his head, stared down at his feet. He heard the whisper of hers on the carpet, felt her approach him. Her bright red toenails appeared beside the toes of his white oxfords. He raised his eyes to meet her blue ones, then closed the lids over them.

He was aware of the tension, the heat stirring silently in the room.

He sensed the calidity of her body come within a hair's breadth of his, and then her warm breath on the skin of the left side of his neck...then tiny licks of light heat, starting at the collar of his shirt, and working their way up.

She was trailing kisses up his throat.

He opened his eyes, cupped her cheek in his hand...brought her face up from his throat to force her to meet his gaze.

His hand burned. But it was a good kind of burn.

The wolf inside of him licked its chops.

He shut his eyes and clamped his mouth onto hers, sent himself hurtling into a torrid vortex. His heart sprinted in his chest. He reached up, feeling for his tie. Upon finding it, he began to loosen it from around his neck. He felt her plunge her fingers into his hair, and she kissed him harder. Briefly they came up for air, but then resumed with another deep kiss.

A trail of titillating fire scorched down his chest and stomach as she unbuttoned his waistcoat, and then his shirt...ripped the tails of it out of his trousers....

His tie came free and he flung it aside.

They came up for air again, then resumed.

He used his feet to shove his shoes off, and then he stepped out of them and kicked them away from him across the carpet. Next he used his toes to peel off his socks, and then disposed of those with his feet as well.

Her hands spread flames across his flesh as she slid his waistcoat and shirt off him, across his chest and over his shoulders until they fell away from him of their own accord.

She pulled her lips apart from his and gasped.

Remus opened his eyes and saw her staring, wide-eyed at the scars on his chest...on his arms...at the cicatrix on his right shoulder from Fenrir Greyback's bite....

Both of them stood there, silent, staring, breathing heavily.

Remus' racing heart stopped, then sank like a stone. He spoke softly with the note of a plea: "You've seen the ones on my face...should these make any difference to you...?"

Edwina raised her eyes to his. Then she leapt up towards his face, cupped it in her hands--Merlin how it burned--and plunged him into another deep and torrid kiss.

Remus' heart raced even faster, galloped.... He closed his eyes...and inside his trousers, just below his belt, a glowing sensation began growing and growing, rising and rising....

He reached up and felt for her shoulders...slid his shaking hands along their silky smoothness.... Shivers echoed through his body with each contact, with each brush of skin on skin.

He felt around to her back...felt for the fastenings of her dress...found one button at the very top, and then a long zipper below that. He undid the button, and then took the zipper and brought it down.

She took her hands away from his face...felt her fingers brush his as she reached back to assist him with the rest of the zipper's journey along her smooth back.

Silk and satin rustled as the dress slid off of her soft body.

When they took a breath between kisses, she breathed, "Contraceptives?"

"No..." Remus muttered, sensing the glowing sensation in his trousers turn into a burning one.

Edwina pulled back.

Remus' eyes flew open.

His heart seized at the sight of her, standing there, completely naked. He'd never seen a naked woman before. He'd seen ones in that art book of his mother's, but not in real life.

She meanwhile grabbed her wand from the lamp table and gave it wave, muttering the Contraceptive Charm. Then she set her wand aside once more and...slowly...approached him.

His eyes traveled over every inch of her...how extraordinary the female external anatomy was. He was half aware of the knowledge that this was his first time, that Edwina was allowing him to take his time having a look. His searching gaze landed on her round set of breasts laid bare before him.

"C-Can I...?" His throat completely dry, his voice came out like sandpaper.

Edwina twittered. "Of course."

He didn't spend too much time exploring. It didn't feel right.

He backed away.

She chuckled and moved to the bed, swaying her hips. She stretched out on her back, and beckoned him with her finger. Remus undid his belt and then his trousers with trembling hands. And then he let them drop as he stood before her.

Edwina gave a theatrical gasp. Then she smiled like a pixie. "Big boy, aren't we?"

Remus gulped and lay down with her on the bed.

With gentle, reassuring caresses across his back and chest and shoulders, she guided him inside of her with soothing words of instruction.

He followed them, and as he began driving into her, he thought he'd thrown himself into an alien universe of sorts--everything was so strange, and vivid, and unreal. Again, and again, and again, he thrust into her, and he felt himself coming, and coming--

Remus gave a hoarse shout of ecstasy as they rippled through his body in tremors.

Edwina cried out and shuddered beneath him.

Staggeringly he pulled out of her. Then he half-crawled, half-rolled off of her and collapsed onto his back. He closed his eyes. "You've killed me," he whispered huskily.

"Oh, hush," teased Edwina's voice beside him.

He heard a rustle of sheets and felt her draw the covers over them both.

"Not bad, for your first time," she chuckled, and snuggled up against him, tucking her head underneath his chin.

He slipped his arms around her and pulled her against him. His heart and breathing rates slowed. Already he felt empty inside, the ecstasy gone completely.

But that was to be expected.

After all, he hadn't done it...with a woman he loved.

~

The next morning Remus woke to find himself alone in the bed, and all trace of Edwina gone. Though he felt quite hollow inside, he couldn't seem to find the strength to get out of bed for a few minutes. When he did find it, he felt his head throb with a minor hangover, and he just now noticed the small taste of dead fur in his mouth that came with it. When he stepped out in his bathrobe to have breakfast down in the kitchen, the door to Sirius' room opened too, but Sirius was not the one who appeared.

It was Aurelia. And she was wearing Sirius' bathrobe. Her golden blonde hair was tousled and even slightly ratty, but she noticed Remus and a smile brightened her face.

"Good morning, Remus," she said. "Have a good sleep?"

"I'd'n educational one," Remus replied thickly and somewhat slurrily, scratching the back of his head. He yawned hugely and then regarded her a moment. A wistful smile graced his lips. "Do I've t' ask how you come to wear Sirius' bathrobe this morning?"

Aurelia did something he had never seen her do: she blushed.

"Well...that depends on what you think the answer to that question is."

Remus chuckled.

"Oh come on Remus!" Aurelia laughed. "It's not like you and Edwina weren't doing the same thing."

Remus stopped smiling. "What, a one-night stand?"

Aurelia sobered up, even paled at this.

"That's right," said Remus softly. "But out o' curiosity, how'd you know 'bou'...?"

"Oh, well...." Aurelia cleared her throat. "Erm...Sirius got up earlier--he's downstairs cooking us all breakfast actually--and he ran into Edwina coming out of your room. He told me about it afterward before he went down, but...he didn't tell me she was in the middle of leaving."

"Maybe she didn' tell him that either."

"And she didn't leave you a note or anything?"

Remus shook his head. "I should've 'spected this though. I am a werewolf, after all." Without looking back at her, he shuffled down the hallway and descended to the kitchen, where he found Sirius expertly flipping a crêpe into the air and catching it in the pan without having it break, despite the extreme thinness of its nature. "Padfoot?"

Sirius turned around. "Ah! Moony! Lovely day, innit?" There was a twinkling softness in his grey eyes and a maturity in his smile that Remus had never seen on him before, especially after spending the night with a woman.

The corners of Remus' mouth curved slyly. "So...you more than fancy Aurelia, I see." He sat down at the table and rested his chin on his knuckles.

Sirius nearly dropped the pan. "Er...well, yeah." And then he too did something Remus had never seen him do before (at least not that he could recall): he blushed, and his voice had gone mellow with bashfulness too.

Remus knew that when Sirius did not expand on his experience, as he normally would have, he knew it was official. Sirius, had not only slept with a woman for the first time, but had slept with one whom he loved. And that woman was Aurelia Vega.

Thus, he was not surprised that he didn't go prodding Remus with questions about how things had gone with Edwina, because now he held a deep and profound respect for the sacred art of true lovemaking.

Without preamble, Remus decided to bring the subject up himself, and was glad to see Sirius' genuine surprise and concern.

"She just...up and left? But she didn't--When I saw her in the hallway this morning--"

"I know, I know, i's fine," Remus assured him. "Aurelia told me you'd talked to her but you didn' say anything about her sneaking off. I figured she didn' tell you what she's doing. I'd like to think i's out o' shame but...."

"Why shouldn't she be ashamed though?" Sirius peeled the crêpe out of the pan and set it on the square of wax paper on top of another crêpe underneath on the plate of them beside the stove.

"No note, for one thing. And...I'm a werewolf, so...I s'pose that only makes me half a human, which means I probably don' really feel the way human does...." He surprised himself with the bitterness that crept into his voice.

"Remus John Lupin!" Sirius scolded, setting the pan down on the stove a little harder than he'd meant to. "Anyone who thinks that is a right old stupid prat in my book. You are not half a human being. If anything you are the wholest human being it has ever been my good fortune to befriend."

Remus looked away, and contemplated a nail in the wood of the table, throat too tight to speak.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ted fell asleep again over the journal, but this time he couldn't remember dreaming anything. All he knew was that he fell into blackness, and then a sharp pain slammed his head.

"Come on, Ted! Rise and shine!"

"Go away, Rodger..." Ted grumbled, turning over.

"I'm sorry, Ted," said Rodger in his same overly-cheerful tone. "But that's what happens when you decide to stay up all night reading!"

Ted groaned but dragged himself out of bed. After he got dressed (he'd fallen asleep in his clothes from yesterday, which were still a bit dirty from Quidditch practice the previous evening), he went with Rodger down to the Great Hall for breakfast.

He sat down beside him at the Gryffindor table and was just tucking into a crumpet smothered in butter and strawberry jam, when he felt an angel's wings brush his cheek.

Actually it was a kiss from Victoire, but Ted really didn't see the difference between the two, for both sensations would make his heart flutter.

"Bonjour, ma chère," he said sweetly, and planted a chaste kiss on her lips. No matter what, he was never too tired to give Victoire the attention she deserved when she asked for it.

"Bonjour, mon cher!" she sang after they broke apart. She was positively beaming. She sat down beside him and helped herself to a crumpet.

Rodger, at the same time, was being joined by his own girlfriend, Cecilia, on the other side of him.

"Est-ce que tu as bien dormi?" Ted asked. (Did you sleep well?)

"Ouais, j'ai marveilleusement dormi," said Victoire happily. (Yeah, I slept great.) Then she added, "Et toi?" (And you?)

"Non, j'ai mal dormi," Ted replied. (No, I slept badly.) He poured himself another glass of pumpkin juice.

"Des cauchemares?" (Nightmares?)

"Ouais, parmi des autres." (Yeah, among other things.) Then Ted happened to notice Bartholomew Spinnet, a.k.a. "Spin" staring at him as he sat on the other side of the table with his friend Terrence Jordan. "What?"

Bartholomew shook his head, as if coming out of a trance. "Er...nothing."

"He just couldn't help but notice you two rabbitting in French there," Terrence said with a smirk.

"Not that I think it's weird or anything," Bartholomew added quickly.

Ted shared a fleeting, smiling glance with Victoire, and then laughed, shook his head, and said to Bartholomew, "Don't worry about it, Spin."

Then Victoire said to Ted, her expression turning abruptly stern: "Et je peux voire que tu as des géantes poches sous les yeux! As-tu dormi pas du tout la nuit dernière?" (And I see that you have giant bags under your eyes! Did you sleep at all last night?)

Ted blinked at her. He remembered his grandmother's good friend, Victoire's paternal grandmother Molly Weasley. He also remembered "Aunt Fleur", Victoire's mother. He had seen them both in their reprimanding elements before. He himself had once been a victim of them, and just now an impression of those same traits had flashed before him in Victoire's face.

"Ted, you were up all night reading those journals?" laughed Cecilia, poking her head out from where she sat on the other side of Rodger.

"'Celia, don't pick on him..." said Rodger, rolling his eyes, though grinning as well.

"What journals is she talking about, Ted?" asked Terrence, who had a habit of being "curious"--or to some, "nosy".

Ted looked around at them all--Victoire, Rodger, Cecilia, Bartholomew, Terrence--all of them staring at him, waiting for his reply. He felt as though he'd been boxed into a corner. "Er...."

Just then they heard the screeches of the owls bringing students their mail.

Ted's beautiful barn owl Luna swooped down and dropped a letter on the half-eaten crumpet sitting on Ted's plate. Then she swooped down a second time and landed just short of crashing into the platter of steaming sausages. She came to perch beside Ted, and Ted rewarded her with an affectionate stroke of her feathers and a few cornflakes. She returned the affection by giving him a few gentle nips on his ear with her beak.

Meanwhile, Victoire's snowy white owl Mercutio had come and delivered a small package for her.

"Merci, Mercutio," Victoire cooed as she opened the enveloped card that had come with the package, which was wrapped in plain brown paper and tied up with string.

Ted however had a feeling as to what it was, and he couldn't help but think: Finally...! And then the pits of his stomach began to roil, his body trembling with nerves as Victoire withdrew the card from inside its envelope.

Victoire gasped delightedly. The cover of the card was laden with color-changing sparkles that formed brilliant rainbow patterns. She opened the card and read the message inside under her breath: "'For you, on your special day: a day that celebrates you! Love, Ted'." She glanced over at Ted and smiled. "Thank you so much, Teddy!" She leaned over and gave him a quick kiss.

"S-Sorry it was late..." Ted said, rubbing the back of his head.

But Victoire was already tearing through the package, and inside was a box, which she opened to find--

"Oh Ted! It's beautiful!" she breathed. From out of the box by its chain she lifted a beautiful silver necklace with a beautifully crafted silver phoenix pendant dangling from it, with a rhinestone set in it for the eye. "I love it!"

She kissed him.

"Happy birthday, chérie," he murmured against her lips. "Sorry it's late. I'd ordered it from the catalog and they told me a couple days ago that they were having shipment problems...."

"Don't be silly, it was their fault the delivery was late, not yours," said Victoire.

"Thank you for being so forgiving then," said Ted, grinning.

Victoire flashed him a pearly white smile. Then while she tried on the necklace, Ted opened up the letter Luna had delivered him. It was a note from his grandmother, telling him how excited she was about coming with the Potters to see him that Saturday--the day after tomorrow, as today was Thursday--for his final Quidditch match against Ravenclaw. She also said that she and Harry were both very excited that Ted had the potential to learn wandless magic (though she couldn't know it had come from his father, could she?) and that he would be getting lessons on it next year. Ted quickly wrote her a reply, saying how things were going and such (though not mentioning anything to do with the ANSWERS box of course) and then sent Luna off to deliver the letter. But before she flew, he told her to have a rest in the owlrey once she got back. He gave another treat for the road, and she was off.