My Dinner With Remus

My Dinner With Remus

It was late fall when I was finally done with the work of the Quarte. I stood outside of his door for at least fifteen, twenty minutes. You might as well do it, you fool, I thought to myself angrily, It's not like he wouldn't understand. I had been sending owls, but that was no substitute for the real thing, and I knew that. I knocked slowly, then mentally rebuked myself. Is there a full moon tonight? I wondered self consciously, knowing if there was, maybe I should of brought a flea collar, because we'd be staying in tonight.

He was worse than last I saw him. His hair had grayed a little bit more and his clothes got shabbier. Shit, I thought. I had made him worry overmuch and it shows. His face lit up like a kid at Christmas and he almost bowled me over.

"Antoine!" Remus Lupin said in that voice of his that made my heart melt. He was thrilled to see me, that was plain. "Why didn't you write me? I would of met you at Quarte Headquarters!"

"If I had wanted that," I said drolly, "I would of sent Nature Boy, the great and wonderful Krystoff, at least in his own estimation, here. I wanted to surprise you, Remus. You look well."

"Don't lie, Antoine," he smiled warmly. "You're bad at it."

"OK, Remus," I said slowly, sighing, asking the question that was really on my mind. "Why do you look so worn?"

He sighed in that way that again almost broke my heart. Dammit, he was good at that, and I never knew why. The man was at least ten years my senior, and here he's continually making me act like a schoolboy. "Antoine...didn't you hear?"

"No, Remus, I didn't." I smiled at him sympathetically. "Look, I'm done with my mission in Translyvania, and I'm going to be here for a while. Why don't we have dinner? Most problems can be solved with an excellent dish. And if that doesn't fix it, there's always dessert." I said, wagging my eyebrows.

He chuckled. "I doubt that'll be the be-all and end-all of it, but sure."

* * * *

We ended up in this little faux French place I know on Diagon Alley. We walked up to the maitre d', and of course, I tipped him for a good table. I was shocked when the waiter waved his wand at us, and a rune, that of Luna, the moon, appeared.

"I am sorry, monsieur, but we do not serve werewolves here," he said in that snotty voice that got my ire up and my wand out.

"What do you mean, you don't serve werewolves here?!" I screamed, making a scene. "He's a person like anyone else!" I waved my wand at the end of each word in rage. "If you don't serve us, I will hex you into next week and with your head and ass readjusted in such a manner that one could very well serve as the other, much like they're doing now!"

"Antoine," Remus said in that quiet calm of his that annoyed me to death right now. "Let's just go. It's related to the thing I was telling you about." I glowered at Remus, but he shook his head and said quietly, "Not here, Antoine. Not here."

I walked out with him, but not without performing a very tiny Flame Charm on the curtains.

* * * *

"What the hell was that, Remus?" I demanded once we were out on the street.

"There was a law passed this summer while you were gone, Antoine. The Ministry passed it. It is the Public Safety Law, written by Umbridge," he said softly, not sparing me a look.

"The Public Safety Law? What the hell is that?" I snorted angrily.

"As long as we are with war with Voldemort, any non or part human or animagus is permitted to have service denied to him at any public place for the safety of the patrons," Remus said quietly. He was bitter, I could see it in his eyes. "Any non-human or part human that looks demi-human, that is, like a normal man, must submit to magical scan, in the name of magical defense."

"You're fucking with me," I blinked. "How in the hell did they pass that?"

"Your episode with the trolls this summer," he said quietly. "That got the Ministry scared. If trolls were working for Voldemort, what other creatures were capable? What damage might they cause? It was enough for Umbridge and the others to move in and pass legislation."

"How in the hell do they know a werewolf from a non werewolf? You'd have to scan everyone who comes through the door...Remus, don't say they managed to pass that..."

"Antoine," he said with a bitter sadness in his tone, "I could say they didn't, but they did. I'm sorry. I've made your life harder too, now."

"How so?" I frowned.

"Anyone with a part human or a non human, including animaguses, can be monitored and their backgrounds checked," he said quietly. "Antoine, they're probably remotely monitoring you and me with spells right now."

"Mon Dieu." I sighed. "Remus, Krystoff doesn't know about this. We've got to go back and warn him!" My eyes widened at the possibilities. Krys was going to go shopping on Diagon Alley, and if he had made anything akin to a scene like I did, he'd be in trouble right now.

It was then I saw it. A number of people outside of Zonko's were writhing on the ground, as if they were snakes, their faces transmuted into an attached squirming mass of tadpoles. I saw Krystoff with Tonks and Kingsley, and another Auror I didn't recongize.

"Now, Mr. Blackfeather," Kingsley was saying in his calm, deep voice. "Turn yourself in, and I'm sure we'll get this all squared away."

"Like hell we will," Krystoff snarled, his eyes flashing dangerously. "I am not a criminal! I refuse to turn myself in!"

The other Auror spoke, almost too softly that I couldn't hear him. "If you don't, we will have to take measures, Mr. Blackfeather. I don't think you want that."

Krystoff grinned nastily. "Then you don't know me very well," he said in that purr of his that was very dangerous. "Ready to go to hell together?"

"Krystoff!" I shouted, running up. "Krystoff, disapparate to headquarters and remember who the hell you are. You are a member of the Quarte, not a back room brawler!"

Krystoff saw me for what might have been the first time. He nodded and did so.

"You are in big trouble now, sir," said the Auror with the quiet voice. "You caused a potentially dangerous element to escape. I'm afraid you'll have to come with me."

I turned to the man, wand and rapier out, having cleared their holsters. "Krystoff was going to transfigure you into a toad. You should be thanking me. I'm not going anywhere."

"Antoine..." Remus said quietly. "Antoine, you're making it worse..."

I needn't had bothered, and neither did Remus. I heard a female voice say, :"Obliviate!" and the Auror looked around, seemingly stunned. I quickly put my weapons away and said quietly, "Thank you, Tonks."

"Watcher, Antoine," she said quietly, "Kingsley and I will clean things up here, but you both need to be more careful."

I nodded as I ran down the street, stepping over the folks that had been Tadpole Hexed and dragging Lupin in my wake.

* * * *

We did finally have dinner. Molly Wesley, bless her soul, prepared it for us at Grimmauld Place, perhaps the last safest place for Remus and I to eat. I managed to send an owl to Thaddeus, he would watch over Krystoff to make sure he didn't do anything reckless. I couldn't say the same for myself, I wanted to do something really reckless.

I smelled Lupin before I saw him nuzzle me. I held him, sighing. "Love...this isn't a life, you know. They're going to watch you for the rest of time."

"It's OK, Antoine," he said softly, sighing. "A lot of people think werewolves, centaurs, goblins and merpeople don't have rights. You can't change public opinion in a day."

"It's not right, Remus," I sighed again. "You have a right to live life the way you need to."

"Antoine," he said softly, "I love you, but you miss the point. War does not bring out the best in people but the worst. And when people like Umbridge are in the Ministry of Magic, it gets worse before it will get better. Things are are in cycles, and this cycle has me as a hunted animal instead of a man. I'm so sorry. I thought they wouldn't test me."

"It's all right, really," I sighed, knowing this wouldn't help Remus's 'I'm a monster' complex.

"Come on," he said smiling and kissing me on the cheek. "Let's go have dessert."

With a weak laugh and like two kids that are pretending nothing was wrong, we ran upstairs together.

* * * *

Much later, coiled together, in one of the beds in the guest rooms of the Order of the Phoenix headquarters, Remus Lupin was snoring next to me cuddled where we lay.

I thought about a lot of things, lying there awake. I thought about what a wonderful man was coiled up next to me, although however insecure. I thought about Umbridge and the things I'd like to do to her for persecuting him so, and about Krystoff and the anger he would undoubtedly bear, more so than the anger he bore for the prejudices growing up.

As I drifted off to sleep, I had a thought that something must be done. I just didn't know what.