On the Forgiving Nature of the Werewolf

The Forbidden Forest was much bigger than most witches and wizards gave it credit for. Like many natural things, it had a magic all its own. And so the cabin inhabited by Remus Lupin, situated on the outskirts of the far side of the forest opposite Hogwarts, was well protected. Lupin sat at the kitchen table, eating his dinner and paging through that morning's Daily Prophet.

He felt it prudent to keep up on the news in the wizarding world, especially since the Quidditch World Cup. There were disturbing rumblings about, and he was keeping his wolfishly attuned hearing on alert.

His hearing being as sharp as it was, Lupin picked immediately the soft knocking at his door. Not having received many visitors, he held his wand at the ready as he pulled open the door. The figure highlighted by the light from the doorway was a familiar one, even though he hadn't seen her for a very long time. It was safe to say he was extremely surprised to see her, keeping in mind the way they had parted.

Lupin's tongue, however, was not struck by the same sense of shock, and he blurted out: "You look bloody awful."

The woman pursed her lips, obviously not amused. "We see each other for the first time in fourteen years, and the first words out of your mouth are 'You look bloody awful?' Real charming, Remus."

Lupin had the grace to look contrite, even though he stood by his statement. Despite still looking good after fourteen years of aging, she looked a bit beat up. She had the same long, dark brown hair, although now it was scraped back into a ponytail and a few days past clean. There was a purple and black bruise across her right temple, and a nasty and unhealed cut across the opposite cheekbone. She was wearing an oversized leather jacket that looked vaguely familiar, and that covered up a light blue t-shirt and jeans that had faint blood spatters on them -- her own blood, he guessed.

"What are you doing here, Addie?" Lupin asked.

Addie sighed, and her face lost its disgruntled look. "To be blunt, the shit finally hit the fan in a big way. I had to leave, and I figured no one would find me here."

Lupin looked down at her, debating if he should let her in. He didn't hate her, but he wasn't sure if he could trust her. They hadn't spoken since the death of the Potters, when Addie had, to put it politely, flipped out and gone on her 'mission'. And fourteen years later, when the world is in danger again, she shows up on my doorstep looking for sanctuary.

He couldn't tell her no. Besides, they had to have a talk. A very long talk, fourteen years in the making.

"Come on in," Lupin said, holding the door open wider. He noticed the stiff way she moved inside, and wondered if some healing spells would be useful.

His cabin was small, basically one room and a bathroom, but he thought it was comfortable. A warm bed, plenty of space for his books, and a fireplace. Addie sunk down into the chair he'd vacated at the table. "Oooh, food," she murmured, and began to pop bites of potato into her mouth.

Lupin glared, although it was nice to see that some things never changed. "It's not smart to steal food from a werewolf, don't you know that?"

Addie smirked. "Full moon was two weeks ago, Remus. I bet I could take you in this state."

"Battered and bloody, you mean?" Lupin fired back, sitting down in the chair next to her.

She rested her elbow on the table and propped her head on her hand. She momentarily closed her eyes, sooty lashes resting against her paler than normal cheeks. "What happened to you?" Remus prodded.

"Are you going to listen, or just dismiss my ideas outright?" They both squirmed, remembering what had happened that last night. Addie was insistent that Sirius was innocent and had proceeded to do anything possible to prove it, while Remus's shock at what she was planning made him wonder about her loyalties. They had gone on their separate paths, leaving whatever potential they had in the dust.

Even with periodic updates from Dumbledore on her activities, and even after last year, after learning the truth about Sirius and Pettigrew, they hadn't sought each other out. Maybe it was because of the massive amount of groveling they would both have to do.

"I'll listen."

Addie nodded. "The group I was...working for -- for Dumbledore -- back in the states had a major shakeup. Some big players ended up dead -- not by my hand, if you were wondering." She smiled softly. "We saved some innocents from being harmed though, and for that it was worth it. Since then I literally have been fighting to get back here. Not everyone agreed with my sabbatical, and it left me a little worse for wear."

"Does Dumbledore know you're back in England?"

"Yeah. I owled him as soon as I got back. Told him I was going to find a safe place to hide for a while, and that if he needs me, his owls should be able to find me."

Remus nodded. He was glad, he supposed, that she still considered him a safe place. "I'll go change the sheets on the bed for you."

"No, it's okay, I'm good with a couch. I don't want to kick you out of your bed," she protested. Remus didn't hear her though; he got up and moved over to the bed.

He was flicking his wand around, sending the dirty sheets to the hamper when he felt Addie's hand on his wand arm. "Remus, it's okay. The couch is fine." Her head poked around his arm, and he could feel her breath on his collar.

When he looked down at her, he could see the fine crow's feet around her eyes looking strained. Another cut, this one at the curve of her neck, had opened up and was oozing blood in a sticky line towards her shirt. Remus shook his head. "You've been too injured to spend the night sleeping on a couch. Take the bed."

Addie backed up a step and crossed her arms over her chest. "Will you stop trying to be so damn chivalrous?"

"I'm not -- " he began to say before she cut him off.

"Then what the hell are you doing by not listening to me?" Before Lupin could even begin to formulate a coherent response, his mouth gaping in a fish-like fashion, she moved away, walking behind him. "If it's okay with you, I'm going to take a shower." She stormed off into the bathroom, lugging her small bag with her.

Remus sighed and slumped down on the couch. She was still as stubborn and infuriating as ever. He ran a hand through his shaggy, light brown hair. They really had to talk now, before she got mad at something else he did and accidentally blew up his house.

An hour passed before she emerged from the bathroom in a cloud of scented steam. Lupin noted she looked cleaner, wearing leggings and a long shirt. Addie was still walking a bit stiffly though, and he saw fresh bandages on her neck and a few beneath her leggings.

>From his spot laying on the couch, having only moved to clean up the dinner things, he saw the moment she noticed the bed, freshly made and sheets turned down waiting for her. "Stubborn wolf," he heard her mutter with a shake of her head. She got in though, and wrapped the blanket at the foot of the bed around herself.

For a few moments there was silence, as they both tried to stare at anything but each other. Finally Addie spoke, staring down at the weave of the blanket. "I'm sorry for acting so -- so bitchy before. You didn't deserve it." She smiled sadly. "You've been nothing but good to me since I showed up, which admittedly I can't understand why you're being so nice, and I just storm in and eat your food and act like...well, not in a nice way towards you." She sighed, moving to slouch against the wall. "I just thought you should know that."

He propped his feet up on the arm and looked over at her. She was still slouched over, and was fiddling around with her hands. "I should apologize also," he sighed, turning his eyes back towards the ceiling.

"Why?" he heard her say. "You've been so good to me since I turned up on your doorstep, there's nothing you need -- "

He cut her off with a shake of his head. "Not for this. For what happened back when...back in '87."

She shrugged. "It's okay, I know you weren't clearheaded at the time. None of us were."

"Adhara." At the sound of her full name, one that was rarely used, Addie looked up to meet his eyes. "I accused you of collaborating with Death Eaters. I should have known better, that you would never side with them. But you kept going on about how you could swear that Sirius hadn't done anything, and I..." Remus shook his head again. "It was wrong of me. And I'm truly sorry."

"Well, I admit, in retrospect, that I was not at my most rational," Addie concurred. "I don't think any of us were." Another minute of silence. "I was right though."

"You were. I couldn't believe it, but I saw that rat with my own eyes." His lips bared back in a snarl, the inner wolf showing through. "If Sirius didn't need him to prove to the world his innocence...if it wasn't for Harry stopping us..."

"How is Harry? You saw him when you were teaching at Hogwarts, right?" Addie asked. Remus knew she hadn't seen him up close since right before his parents were killed, but he was fairly sure that Dumbledore was keeping her apprised of that situation also. If she knew he was teaching, God only knew what else she knew.

"As far as I know, he's doing as good as can be. Becoming a teenager and dealing with all the stresses that come with it. He's looking more and more like his parents every time I see him." He kept the answer short, knowing that it was a diversionary tactic to steer the conversation to safer subjects than what had happened between them.

"Good," she murmured. "While we're making our apologies, I should say I'm sorry for decking you in face that night."

Remus smiled, and reached up to rub his jaw in the area she had hit him with an unexpected right hook. He remembered being shocked at the time, but looking back, he should have expected it. Addie was the type of girl to punch first and talk second. "It's okay. You were -- "

" -- stressed," they chorused.

"It's not an excuse though, you know? I shouldn't have punched you." She stared at the wall, her eyes distant. "We should have stuck together in such a tough time, instead of fighting and going our separate ways. Who knows what could have happened?"

Remus let his eyes close for a moment, thinking back. They had been close back then, close enough that James and Lily teased about another couple forming in the midst, and Sirius in his less than tactful way basically said shagging like wild bunnies -- or wolves -- was a very good thing. And admittedly, they had started down that path, but then the world went to hell. If they had clung together in their grief, how far could they have gone together? Would they be drawn closer by it or torn even farther apart than they were now? He wasn't sure he wanted to speculate. There was always the chance that his thoughts could be even worse than how reality turned out.

"Remus?" her low voice broke into his thoughts, and he opened his eyes to see her staring intently at him, her damp hair draped around her shoulders. "Why are you being so nice to me? I showed up without any word, and instead of slamming the door in my face you take me in and make me comfortable. Why?"

He flicked his eyes upwards before meeting hers again. "Because...because no matter what's happened in the past between us, I still..." Stay away from the 'L' word, Moony. "...care about you. A lot."

Addie nodded and stared down at the bed. "I care about you too. Probably more than I should," she said softly. The only reason he could make out the words clearly was because of his heightened hearing.

He fought, valiantly he thought, against the stirrings of hope that were whirling around. It was not the time to be thinking about such stuff. Clearing his head with a slight shake, Remus saw her shifting around on the bed with a pained look on her face. "Are you okay?" he asked.

"Yeah," she hissed, moving to prop her back against the footboard of the bed and stretch her legs out stiffly in front of her. "These damned bruises just make it uncomfortable, you know?"

"If you want," Remus said hesitantly, "I can try and heal some of them up for you. I'm pretty decent with healing charms." Those healing spells always came in handy after an especially bad full moon.

She rolled her head on the footboard to look at him. As an almost unconscious movement, his eyes slid down her body and back up again. He hoped Addie didn't notice. "That may not be a bad idea. I need to sleep, but I know I won't be able to if I'm struggling to find a comfortable position to sleep in."

Remus nodded, sat up, and pulled his wand from the back of the couch. He could have pulled a chair over to the bed, or kneeled on the floor, but instead he climbed up there with her, and kneeled by the headboard, looking down at her. He really wasn't going to think of the implications of that. "Where do you want me to begin?" he asked.

Addie leaned forward to pull the leggings up above her knees. "Start with those. Then after I feel comfortable enough with you I'll let ya take care of the ones underneath my shirt," she said with a smirk and a wink. He was on his way to forming a suitably snarky response when he caught his first look of her legs and saw just how bad they were.

The fair skin was mottled with bruises, almost so that it looked like blackberry cobbler with patches of vanilla ice cream in it. Here and there were gauze bandages, some with pale pink stains dotting the surfaces. He peeled back the bandages, revealing cuts and scrapes that rather disturbingly resembled fingers in certain places. If he dwelled on that however, he'd never get around to fixing up her wounds.

"This makes me feel incredibly old," Addie sighed as Remus set to work, waving his wand over the larger lacerations. "I can't bounce back like I used to. Thirty-five is not all it's cracked up to be." He felt her gaze landing on the top of his bent head. "Although if I'm thirty-five, that makes you -- "

"Almost forty," he broke in, sending a glare her way. He wasn't turning forty until August, and he was relishing the time until then.

"Almost. Gotcha," she said with a wicked grin back.

Remus just shook his head and went back to work. "I swear, Snuffles has rubbed off on you too much," he muttered.

Addie snorted indelicately. "Someone's still calling that prat Snuffles?"

"Sirius told Harry and his friends to refer to him as that whilst in Animagus form. He figures it's the least likely name for an infamous, escaped mass-murderer to sport."

Addie nodded thoughtfully. "Makes sense. I remember him wanting to be called Butch or Bluto or something macho like that, because of that hulking bear of a dog he always transformed into...but poor him," she drawled sarcastically, "he got stuck with Snuffles." She dissolved into laughter, her body shaking, knees reflexively curling towards her chest. Remus grabbed at her ankles, his thumbs right over the tattoos on her inner ankles, trying to hold her down. He noticed that her toenails were painted a bright hot pink of all things.

"Addie, stay still, otherwise I'm never going to be able to finish this."

"Kay," she said, still snickering over Sirius's moniker. "Snuffles." The laughter continued after Remus was done with the healing spells on her legs, leaving yellowish traces of the bruises and shiny pink semi-healed scars behind.

"That's as good as it's going to get for now," Remus said, leaning back on his haunches. "Not totally healed, but you should be able to sleep comfortably."

Addie propped herself up on her elbows, looking down at her legs. "Nice work," she commented with a nod. Then, before he could blink, she got onto her knees, spun around, pulled her shirt off, and laid back down on her stomach. "If it's okay, could you work on my back next? I think it's even worse than the ones on my legs."

With a shake of his head, Remus pulled his thoughts away from the rather entrancing idea that she hadn't had a bra on to concentrate on the state of her back. If her legs had looked like blackberry cobbler, then her back looked like it was sprinkled with confetti, with little red pinpricks of cuts scattered everywhere, and bruises in various states of healing amidst them. "What in Merlin's name happened here?"

"I got tossed through a window, and I couldn't get my shields up in time," Addie murmured, pillowing her head on her folded arms.

"I'm sorry," he whispered, getting to work.

"S'not your fault. I knew what I was getting into when I started. Believe me, I've actually been hurt a lot more than this," she sighed.

"Is it worth it?" Remus asked, focusing his wand on one especially bad area that still had slivers of glass lodged in her skin. "Is it worth getting hurt so badly?"

Addie was silent for a few moments, as if trying to think up the right words to say. "I think so. What these wizards are doing, it's wrong, so incredibly wrong. They end up hurting innocent people, and if I can help them, then it's worth it." She quieted again, and then let out a snort. "Gods, I sound like some sort of righteous superhero."

"I don't think you'd look good in Batman's outfit," Remus joked quietly, gliding his wand one final time over her back.

"You made a joke!" Addie playfully gasped. She turned over onto her back, but not before she pulled her shirt in front of her to cover her chest.

"I can make a joke every so often if I choose to," he smiled, working hard at keeping his eyes focused on her face -- nowhere else. "You forget, once a Marauder, always a Marauder. Except in Wormtail's case," he said, leaning forward to peel the bandage off the slash on her neck. Neither one had realized it, but in order to heal this wound he had to lean over her, enough so that his upper body was covering most of hers. This cut was longer than at first glance, coming around her neck and ending somewhere between her collarbones. One flick of his wand cleaned off the dried blood, and a few muttered words and wand movements later had the gash looking a few weeks healed. Finally, with one last wave of the wand, he took care of the slash mark on her cheek.

"Thanks," Addie murmured, looking up at him.

"Anytime," he said, his hand resting on her neck. He should have moved away, backed up a few steps, but he didn't. But she didn't look all that bothered by it either. She was too busy looking at him.

'Oh, sod it,' he thought, lunging forward at the same time her hands grabbed onto his shirt and dragged his mouth down to hers.

When he could finally catch his breath, Remus saw that he was lying face down with his mouth buried in Addie's dark hair. He could feel her body pushed up against his, still sucking in deep lungfuls of air.

"Oh, my..." she panted.

"Yeah," Remus groaned in agreement, his arm wrapping around her waist. He pushed his head up slightly. "We're at the foot of the bed."

"I think we started out down there." He felt her shake her head, dislodging her hair. "So that's what fifteen years of sexual tension finally released feels like."

Remus just grinned, squeezing her waist. He could see the sated look on her face, which had turned his way. Addie smiled at him, and he stroked a finger down her nose. "I can't feel my legs," she grinned.

"Is that a good thing or a bad thing?"

"Gee, I thought you would have whipped out the healing spells again."

"I've just been well shagged, I'm a hell of a lot more relaxed right now."

Even werewolves, however, need recovery time after energetic sex, and so as soon as Addie tugged the blanket over them they both fell fast asleep.

The next time Remus came to, still at the foot of the bed, he saw Addie by the stove, wrapped in the dark green sheet she must have tugged out from under him. She was preparing a kettle of hot water, for tea, he guessed. Sure enough, within a minute she sat down at the table, a steaming cup of tea in front of her. "There's more, if you'd like some," she said, not looking up.

Remus wrapped the blanket around his waist, and got up to pour himself a cup. He sat down next to her, and they both sipped their tea quietly. He got the feeling she was struggling for words, he was the same way. What is one supposed to say after the long anticipated event? "Feeling okay?" he finally asked.

Addie looked up with a knowing grin. "Very good." The grin faded slightly and she stared into her teacup as if the answers to the mysteries of life, the universe, and everything else could be found within. "I just can't help but wonder if we rushed."

Remus choked a little on his tea, burning the roof of his mouth. "Rushed? We waited fifteen years to -- "

"You know what I mean," she cut him off, looking back up. His eyes locked onto her greenish-blue ones. "Before this, I could count on one hand the number of times we kissed, and we sure as hell never went as far as that." She waved an arm in the direction of the messed up bed. "I just wonder if we missed out on something, that's all."

"You mean awkward first dates and every little getting to know you thing? If we waited for that we'd be...well, even greyer than we are now."

Addie grimaced and plucked at her hair, gone wavy from air drying and all the mussing around. "That reminds me, I got to charm it again."

Remus smiled. "What I'm trying to say is that we went through all that stuff. I knew you well before we even considered dating. And you know, with the way things are in the world right now..." he took another sip of tea "...I don't know why we want to wait. Things are bad, and I get the feeling that it's not going to get better anytime soon. So...why should we wait on something that's this positive and good?"

She cocked her head to the side. "Is that what we are? Positive and good?"

"I think so."

Addie nodded, and had some more tea. Then, Remus watched her with wide eyes as she stood up, dropped the sheet to the floor, and straddled his lap. His arms reflexively curled around her waist, pulling her close. "Do you know, Remus Lupin, that I just may falling in love with you?" she murmured, her face close to his.

"I think that the actual falling was done a long while ago. Now we just have to find a way to make it work," he replied with a soft smile, resting his forehead against hers. This time, Addie leaned in and kissed the smile, ending the conversation.

They spent a good couple of days absorbed in each other, christening various pieces of furniture, the shower a couple of times, and, of course, the bed. They were on the bed, not seeing anything but each other, when the door to the cabin opened and a large, shaggy, pale-eyed, black dog dashed inside.

They didn't see the dog stop short and stare at them briefly. They didn't notice when the dog, rather improbably even in the wizarding world, transformed swiftly into a human being, a tall man with disheveled dark hair and worn robes. Sirius Black shook his head and blinked. After a few seconds, he spoke up.

"Moony, would you stop shagging my sister for two moments and help me save the world?"