Their Last Summer

The two teenagers on the course, woven hammock would have no idea that this was there last time to be together. They lay together, dreaming of at least two more long languid summers to spend together before their adult lives took over and yet deep in his heart Remus Lupin knew that their love was not to be.

Lazily he took a piece of her fiery red hair between his fingers and began twirling it around his fingers. He stared up at the sapphire sky and his eyes were shielded from the sun by the tall trees that Lily's father cultivated. They reached far up into the air. When they were younger he and Lily used to scamper up them and watch the sunset from the branches.

He remembered that June day when they were twelve when he had found that bird nest in one of the upper branches. The tender eggs inside had been starting to crack and the two of them watched, mesmerized as a tiny beak began to make its way to the surface. Remus saw it open wide, causing the shell to separate further, a tiny feather covered in the liquid which had given the frail bird nutrients for the first of its' life.

Remus looked up at Lily then, somewhat hoping she was glad that he had made this discovery; she was watching intently her face showing the amazement of watching this miracle. She must have felt him looking at her, and smiled. Her smile was tight-lipped, because her parents forced her to wear a metal retainer which she despised, but it lit up her face. Her green eyes sparkled, her lips shown cherry against her face, which had not yet gained its usual summer tan.

Even to Remus, who was but a child then himself, she seemed innocent, not yet exposed to the dangers of the world. Yes, she had fallen off of her broom during flying class, and yes, she had a bat-bogey curse cast upon her by Bellatrix Black, but to him her life seemed so innocent.

He, on the other hand, had seen the horrors that existed in the world. He was a werewolf after all, and he went through painful transformations every month. He had spent a week last summer at Sirius' house he had borne witness to the lives of the Wizarding aristocracy, seen the world of money influence that he had only read about and thought didn't exist any more.

Now, four years after the day that they had spent watching three birds emerge onto a new world with challenges the baby animals couldn't imagine, the two teenagers were on the brink of turmoil that would draw them apart. Remus couldn't know this; all he knew was that things were happening that could change them.

Lily rolled over on the hammock, causing it to sway gently, and her hair, down for once, seemed to dance in the light summer breeze. "Remus?" she asked, smiling at him tenderly.

"Yes Lils?" he responded, teasing her gently with a childhood nickname.

She wrinkled her nose, to him making her seem more beautiful, "When did you know you loved me?"

He sighed and turned back to the sky, folding his hands over his chest. He thought back to their childhood together in order to pinpoint the moment.

Remus was a half-blood, his mother was as good a woman as they came, but she was a Muggle, and his father's parents hadn't looked kindly on that. They were descended from the Malfoys, and they considered John Lupin to be a blood-traitor when he married Francine Wiggins. They had, however, been a bit more cordial to the young couple when they produced a son. Remus had vague memories of going to the large house his grandparents owned and playing with young cousins. Later he wondered if Sirius had been among them.

Then it had happened; he had received the bite when he was six. They were living them in a small cottage at the end of the village near his maternal grandparents. His father had heard the howls, but couldn't believe there was a werewolf there. Remus had run off into the woods one night after his toy broom, which had gotten away.

They had moved then to a smaller village out on the moors. They lived on the outskirts of the town, and Remus changed every month in a cage in the basement. His mother had adapted well to his lycanthropy despite her uncertainty about magic. He had been home-schooled, and to give him time with other children, every summer he was sent to his mother's closest friends, the Evans' for three weeks.

Originally he had been better friends with Lily's sister Petunia, simply because he and Lily didn't get along. She was tomboyish and wild, while he was bookish and calm. However, as he grew older his mother made him spend more time on the moors and he learned to love nature.

They had been nine the summer they had turned from foes to friends and that was Lily's calming summer or at least that's what the family called it. She stopped looking for fights and jumping off the garage roof with only a bed sheet for protection. Actually, Remus had dared her on that one.

Instead she and Remus climbed trees and spent time by the lake nearby. They would come back to the house to eat sandwiches and then pack watermelon and take it with them to the top of a tree and munch while they talked and teased each other.

Coming slowly back to the present Remus said quietly, "Do you remember that day when we were ten, the summer before Hogwarts letters, when we were fishing on the lake? I had a tangle in my line, and you looked over and laughed at me. That was it."

Lily's laughter filled the air, and Remus blushed slightly, running a hand through his mud colored hair. Lily rolled closer to him, so that they lay shoulder to shoulder. "Remus, you're weird. Do you know?"

He put his arm around her and held her close. "You tell me that daily, darling Lily. Now it's your turn. When did you know you liked me?" he was hesitant to say 'love' he didn't know if she loved him the way he loved her. Admired perhaps, in someway, but he didn't know if he'd call it love.

She laid her head on his shoulder and sighed, "Wolf-boy, when will you realize I love you?"

He smiled, kissing the top of her hair, "I'm still convinced this is a dream Lil. That we'll wake up and Hogwarts will be a figment of our subconscious."

"Whatever." She sighed, and then added, "As for me, I think I loved you that summer after third year, when I broke up with that bugger Davy Gudgeon."

"Caught you on the rebound, did I?" he said feigning slyness.

"No, you cared."

Remus was shocked, so he didn't say anything, only kissed her again. He couldn't express at that moment how much he loved her. She was his angel. When she had found out that he was a werewolf they were eleven. She had known his mother wasn't ill, and when he heard him tell Sirius this she had cornered him. They had thought Hogwarts might be a time to be together, but in the end they had grown apart during the year, she disliked his friends and he didn't want to loose them.

But the next summer they were best friends again, running about the countryside and the nearby Muggle town. They had talked for hours about magic, but also about being a werewolf. She had been horrified when he reluctantly told her it was painful. Then, to his surprise she hugged him. Then she had smiled at him, jumped up and offered to race him home.

Lazily he slapped at a fly on his arm and said, "Lily, are we ever going to tell our friends?" There was no answer from Lily and he lifted his head a little to see that she had fallen asleep.

The next evening was his last at the Evans; he thought for that summer, he and Lily sat on the porch on a creaking old swing, watching the fireflies. She had her back on the arm of the swing, with her legs pulled up to her chest. He sat straight, as he always did.

"Can I come to your place next month?" Lily asked him, quietly.

"I reckon so," he said his mind on a letter he had received from James.

"I know what I'll do. I'll wait until the day the moon wanes and then I'll fly over the country and show up at your window in the dead of night. Then I'll sweep you onto my broom and we'll fly up past the moon," she said dreamily staring at the three-quarter moon above them.

"Oh Lily, I wish you could."

She sat up and maneuvered close to him and demanded, "Why couldn't I? Give me one reason Remus Lupin!"

"Because Lily," he sighed, "I have to go to James'."

"Why?" she whinged, leaning up against him and kissing his cheek. "Potter can wait a bit, can't he?"

Remus dearly wanted to say yes, that James could wait an eternity, but this wasn't up to him. "No. It's only for a week or so, but we are working on holiday work for..." he cast around for a class that Lily wasn't in, "Wizarding Law. I don't know why we decided to take it, but it's a horrible class."

Lily scowled, "Well, alright, but only because if you fail I'd have to help you get your marks up."

Remus laughed, "That would be the day." They sat silently together for a while, Remus wishing he could tell her that they were going finish off the Animagi transformations, (Peter still retained a human eyeball.).

Then, as it grew cooler and they could see a car in the distance which more than likely contained Lily's sister Petunia and her boyfriend Vernon Dursley, Remus said quietly, "Lily, you know I'll always love you."

Lily, who had been eyeing the car warily, murmured, "Of course you idiot. Why do you say that anyway?"

"I don't know. I just have this feeling that something's going to change." Remus stared up at the stars and contemplated the wording of his statement as he traced the big dipper. Lily caught his arm and laid it on her lap. "I hope it doesn't Lily, but you've heard about what's going on. Plus, we still haven't told anyone about us. James still loves you, did you know that?"

Lily laughed loudly, "Is that what you're worried about? James Potter? He'll give me up eventually."

Remus nodded, but somehow he didn't think so. And after all, James could give Lily so much more than he could, James didn't have the risk of biting their children or worse... Remus let his thoughts trail off and as they saw the door of Vernon's car close he stood and pulled Lily up with him.

He held her close to her and kissed her, her lips tasted of watermelon and strawberries, of bike rides and broom flights, of books and fishing poles. As he felt her heart beat against his and memories of their childhood flash past him he couldn't help thinking it would end.

He was right.

He hadn't been able to see Lily that summer. James' father had been killed and then the Wizarding World had been thrown in to turmoil. Remus had spent the summer at home during the full moon, and the rest at James'. His letters to Lily were painfully short and he tried to apologize, but he never got a real chance. The next summer his father didn't want him to go to the Evans', for reasons he didn't share, but Remus suspected that it was a lingering prejudice against the Muggle world, even though his father had married a Muggle.

The next year she had gone out with James. He tried to talk to her, but he always dug himself into a deeper hole. She became convinced that he wasn't willing to risk getting into trouble for him. She was still so naïve, she couldn't grasp the severity of the threat on Wizards.

By the time she did she was deeply involved with James.

And so her wolf-boy watched from the sidelines as his best friends became happier than they'd ever been. He would allow himself no envious feelings, because he didn't deserve her. Instead he would forever hold the memory of their last kiss, and cherish their last summer.