Chasing Airplanes

He held the warm tea cup in his hand and sipped contemplatively. Most everything he did lately was contemplative because the only regularities in his life were the dull ache in the empty place where Sirius used to be and the cyclical return of the full moon every month. For Remus Lupin, everything else blurred together without distinction.

It didn't help that Remus was often at 12 Grimmauld Place, where Sirius was supposed to be. Though he was surrounded by new friends in the Order, all his close boyhood friends were gone now. No one felt as close to him as James, Sirius, or even Peter had back in the day. Others, like Snape, held him in contempt for their own various reasons, and being a werewolf never helped him get to the top of popularity lists.

As he sipped his tea, something entered his consciousness destroying his meditation. It was flamingly bright and beautiful. It reminded him of the phoenix for which the Order was named. He realized a moment later what had caught his attention.

"Ginny." He had spoken her name out loud without being aware of it.

"Yes, Professor Lupin?"

The sound of her reply drew him out of his reverie. He set his cup on the saucer and studied her as if he hadn't seen her in a long time. She was a young girl, and therefore it was possible that he never really had.

She turned curiously to face him. Ginny had her long Weasley-red hair tied back in a pony tail and she was wearing mud-splattered Quidditch robes. Clearly it was from the game she had been playing with her brothers, Harry and Lee Jordan.

After a quick assessment, Remus realized that Ginny Weasley was magnificent. Young though she was, he could see hints to the woman she would become. Ginny had a blossoming outer beauty evidenced by the dramatically colored hair, pleasing face with lustrous freckled skin, and a supple, athletic body hard-earned from playing Quidditch.

While he was watching her, Ginny sat down beside him at the kitchen table. She placed a pot of salve on the table and then rolled up her sleeve to reveal her left elbow. A bruise was already starting to form, and she hissed in pain when she touched it.

Without waiting to be invited, Remus took the pot of salve and dipped his fingers into it. He reached over to massage Ginny's elbow.

"Do I have to ask who did this?" He smiled conspiratorially to her.

"Fred and George practicing their double-beater offense again. Oh, just you wait. I'll give them a good Bat Bogey Hex when they least expect it."

Ginny's look of plotting was very similar to that of Fred and George, but Remus declined to point that out to her. Instead he diplomatically responded, "somehow I don't think you learned that in my Defense class. From what I understand, though, it is quite an impressive hex."

"It has to be!" Ginny looked indignant that he could think of her spellwork against her brothers as anything less than effective. "Against Fred and George, a person needs good defensive skills. They might not be evil, like You-Know-Who, but they aren't innocent, either."

"Neither are you," Remus winked at her. "Whose sister was throwing dung bombs at the door last summer when we were having private meetings of the Order?"

"How did you know that?" She turned to him with a guilty expression on her face.

"Teaching young people like you," he smiled confidently, "and years of being friends with my own set of mischief makers." His expression changed from light to solemn as he thought of his old friends.

Remus was still rubbing Ginny's elbow, so she reached her right hand over to squeeze his left hand. It was a small offer of comfort and one he appreciated.

He calmly looked into her brown eyes and said, "Thank you." Remus smiled and removed his fingers from her arm.

When a comfortable moment had passed, Remus changed the subject and asked, "so, how are you and Harry?"

"Okay, I guess." She shrugged dismissively. "Sometimes I like him better now than before. We actually talk to each other."

"What changed?" he asked before taking another sip of his tea.

Ginny sighed and said, "I gave up." She looked down at the suddenly very interesting table top.

"From what I hear, that’s not so bad," he set his cup back down and reprised his thinking pose. "The rest of the boys in Hogwarts have been queuing for the chance to date you."

Ginny looked bewilderedly up at him. "Just who tells you all these things?"

"You should know how overprotective your family is of you," he stated matter-of-factly without revealing his source.

"Yes, but it’s never at the right time," she answered as her expression clouded.

"Oh, cheer up!" He snapped his fingers in front of her face. "Which boy is it this time?"

"I don’t have to tell you that!" Ginny was too embarrassed to share that information with her former Defense Against the Dark Arts professor.

He looked truly amused for the first time in weeks. "I can see the headlines of the Daily Prophet now!" he teased, "Ginny Weasley: Serial Dater. Slays the Hearts of Boys All Over England"

"That’s not true, and you would know it, too, if you knew as much about me as you think. While Harry was off mooning over Cho, I had to be with someone! I can't wait my whole life for Harry Potter to notice me."

"Mooning?" His mouth was firmly serious, but his eyes crinkled at the corner to show he was disguising a laugh.

"Yes!" Ginny rolled her eyes at him in exasperation. "He was in ‘love’ because she was pretty, or some other equally mad idea."

"Oh?" He raised his eyebrow in inquiry. "You’re not becoming cynical, are you, Miss Weasley?"

"No more than most." She smiled at her own joke as she rolled down her sleeve. Ginny then helped herself to her own cup of tea.

They continued their amiable conversation until the tea was finished. When they were done, they stood together and took the dishes from the table to the sink.

After placing her dishes in the sink, Ginny turned quickly and bumped into Remus who was directly behind her. Remus reacted to the disturbance in his balance by tightly wrapping his arms around her to steady them both from falling.

She looked up at him in surprise. This intimate proximity to him was a completely unnerving new sensation. Before it became too uncomfortable for her to bear, they heard the sounds of the boys entering the kitchen.

"You missed it, Ginny! Ron's save was..."

Fred didn't finish what he was saying because he found Ginny standing there in Lupin’s arms.

"Oooh, is little Gin-Gin trying to put the moves on the big, bad werewolf?" Fred looked positively giddy at the chance to torment his sister.

Ginny growled and whirled on them furiously. She gave both Fred and George right beside him the most intense Bat Bogey Hex they'd ever experienced. She then shoved them into the wall as she left the kitchen.

"What got into her?" Ron joked as she left.

The others snickered and helped themselves to the rest of the tea and biscuits. Meanwhile, Remus performed the appropriate counter-curse on the twins.

Fred, never one to let an opportunity for mischief pass, devoted his considerable energies the rest of the day to making Ginny feel miserable and embarrassed. The other boys avidly watched the entertainment from the sidelines, only participating in howling or whistling at Ginny whenever they saw her.

Ginny tried to find peace alone, but Fred found her repeatedly. Once he said in an insipid mocking voice, "Oh, Professor Lupin, what strong arms you have! My, my, what big eyes you have! What a pretty mouth you have!"

Later he tried to get to her with a different tactic. "Ginny," he said with feigned fright, "there’s a boggart in my old school trunk. Do you think that dreamy Remus Lupin would come banish it for us?"

While those things were petty and mildly annoying, Fred saved his best for last when they were all gathered for the evening meal. The Weasleys, Harry, Tonks, Moody, Lupin and even Kingsley Shacklebolt were sitting around the table talking while waiting for dessert to be served. Fred took his opportunity during a lull in the conversation to make the heretofore most embarrassing attack on Ginny.

"Mum, I really think you need to keep a closer watch on your daughter," he said with concerned innocence.

Molly said off-handedly, "why is that, Dear?" while at the same time Ginny, sinking lower into her chair, said, "no, Fred. No!"

Fred looked almost paternal as he spoke to Molly. "You know how she is about boys. First she’s in love with Harry," he gestured grandly across the table to indicate a surprised Harry. "Then she goes to the Yule Ball with Neville. After that, well... you can see the all boys she’s been dating!"

Remus smiled down to his place at this because it reminded him of how he himself had teased Ginny earlier in the day.

"Mother," Ginny said firmly, "you don’t have to listen to this complete load of rubbish!"

"But, Mum," Fred pleaded while at the same time shushing Ginny with a dismissive gesture. "It’s getting worse. First it was boys her own age, but now she has her eyes on older men. Much older men. Don’t you care about your little girl?"

"Who?" Molly asked with narrowed suspicion.

"Fred..." Ginny snarled a feral threat that would have frightened a less foolhardy person. It only served to inspire Fred to finish his torment.

He answered his mother in an affectation of deepest concern. "Why only the worst kind, Mother. Just this afternoon I saw her in the tight embrace of a dangerous were..."

Ginny furiously stood up at the table, knocking over her chair and several goblets in the process. She was so enraged that at first she couldn’t find the right words to speak. She pointed her wand at him and stared with a look so hot it could have melted frozen steel.

"Fred Weasley, you insufferable git, that is complete bullocks!"

"Ginny! Watch your language!" Her mother seemed scandalized to hear such profanity.

"But, Ginny," Fred said, the very model of a loving brother, "I care about what happens to you."

"Bullocks!" she shouted again and threw up her hands in agitation. Ginny stormed out of the house taking with her Ron’s broom that was propped by the outside door.

Remus decided to look for Ginny later after all evidence of the evening meal was cleaned away and Fred was safely occupied with some other undoubtedly mischievous pursuit. He found her flying overhead on Ron’s broom, and in her anger she was making feints so spectacular that both Viktor Krum and Harry would have been extremely impressed had they been there to see it.

Ginny did not realize when she landed that it was Remus that had been watching her, but she could feel that someone else was there. She brandished the broom before her like a weapon and called, "come out of there, you poor excuse for dragon dung!"

Remus stepped into the light with his hands up like a prisoner held at wandpoint. "I won‘t bite you," he assured her, but continued wryly, "at least not yet. The full moon isn‘t for another two weeks."

"Remus!" she squeaked. "I mean, Professor Lupin!" Ginny winced at having used his first name. She dropped the broom from attack mode and stood uneasily. "What are you doing here?"

"I was hoping to be the next victim of your Bat Bogey Hex," he deadpanned. When Ginny didn’t respond, he continued, "actually I came to check on you. Fred was having quite the fun at your expense, I’m afraid."

She crossed her arms defensively in front of her chest. "I should be used to it by now." She stared off into space, not making eye-contact with him.

Lupin gingerly sat down on the grass and pulled a brown paper sack from the pocket of his robes. He interestedly shuffled the contents inside, before looking up at Ginny. "You left before you could have dessert. I thought you might like something sweet."

"What?" she sighed impatiently.

"Chocolate frog?" he offered and flicked a wrapped package to the tips of his fingers.

Ginny pursed her lips together and thought for a moment. It would not do to give Fred and the others more ammunition, but when Lupin looked at her in a way that suggested "What are you waiting for?" she gave in and sat down beside him.

Ginny relaxed back and ate the chocolate frog while Remus looked up at the night sky. He was quiet for so long, it surprised her when he spoke.

"I love looking at the stars. It is easier to see them when the moon isn‘t full. Easier for me, too." He looked back into his paper sack to chose another piece of chocolate. When he found a piece for himself, he also took another piece to give to her.

"You’ve taken astronomy from Professor Sinistra. Do you see that bright one over there?" He pointed to a particularly bright one in the dark summer sky, and she nodded. "That one is Sirius. I find myself looking for it every night now." He frowned at his admission.

Ginny sat back up and tried to change subjects by thanking him for the chocolate. "You know what they should really make?"

He looked at her with a quizzical expression but did not speak.

"Chocolate werewolves, of course!" Ginny giggled.

Remus chuckled, and answered her, grinning, "that’s not a very good idea. They’d be very likely to try to bite your head off once a month."

"So would a few girls I know, but that never stopped anyone," she said with a snicker.

Together they ate the rest of the chocolate and made idle chatter. Ginny encouraged Remus to tell her of his escapades with Sirius and James when they were the Marauders. He spoke slowly at first, giving her only the most censored depictions of their adventures. She laughed and gasped in all the appropriate places.

After more time had passed in shared company, Remus stood up to leave. He started walking away, but stopped to look over his shoulder and ask, "Ginny, what do you get if you cross a witch with a werewolf?" He motioned with his hands indicating them both.

She turned a puzzled face to look at him. "I don’t know. What?"

Remus smiled to her a brilliant smile that made his eyes sparkle. "A mad dog that chases airplanes."

Ginny at first stared at him blankly, but recovered with a radiant smile that dawned on her face. Then she begun to laugh so hard that tears came to her eyes.

Remus laughed with her and looked up to the sky to see Sirius’ own star twinkling down on them as if it were laughing, too.