⚯͛ Unfortunate - Remus Lupin ⚯͛

74.

Maeve stood in the middle of the drab graveyard, the grey sky overhead. Despite it being May, it was cold and the grass was wet from the previous rainy night. Maeve pulled her jacket tighter around her body.

The headstone in front of her read

Jakob Finlay Iverson
1953 - 1968

That was all it read. No pleasant message, no acknowledgement of who he was or what he was...just his name and the years he was alive. It wasn't enough, Maeve had thought that when they made it.

She had only ever visited his grave twice before in her life: once before she left for Hogwarts for the first time, and in the summer before fifth year, both times to ask her brother for advice (as if he could hear her, which she found comfort in trying to believe).

This time she wasn't here to ask for advice.

"Is this him?" Remus asked.

"You're so intelligent," she joked softly as she reached to her side and held his hand.

"Right, stupid question..."

They looked at the grave for a moment. Maeve closed her eyes, trying to picture him how he was when she was 8 and he was just 15. She opened her eyes and pulled out her wand from her pocket, letting go of Remus' hand for a second to bend down and make a wreath of flowers leaning against the stone.

She stood up and took Remus' hand again.

"Hi, Jake," she said quietly, looking at the flowers, "I know you never liked flowers but I can't stand your grave looking miserable when I'm here...I..."

Remus looked over to her as her green eyes began to become emotional. She looked down in frustration to blink the tears away, before looking back up and tucking some blonde hair behind her ear and carrying on.

"I came to introduce you to Remus...but you probably know who he is, if you're watching from up there, that is," she said, looking up at the sky lingeringly, "I know you're not here to give him the brotherly talk, but if you've seen him you'll know that you have nothing to worry about."

Remus smiled a small, but grateful smile her way.

"I'm not officially an Iverson anymore, and I don't know what you'd think about what happened, but I'm sure you would be on the right side with me...you always had a very strong moral compass, lots of people in the family called you soft for that, do you remember? I just thought you were brilliant, but Mum and Dad...you know them, they haven't changed either..."

She took a deep breath and released it shakily. Remus gave her hand a comforting squeeze, and she leaned into him.

"I miss you," her voice broke then, "I...I'm sorry I don't visit more, it just hurts a lot...I'll try to do better. I hope if Mum and Dad come, you have some sort of noise-cancelling plugs up there, otherwise I'm very sorry..."

She laughed at this, and even Remus cracked a smile.

"I'll see you soon, J."

She gently pulled Remus away, and they walked to the path at the side of the graveyard to go to the gate.

"Thank you for bringing me here," said Remus quietly.

She nodded once at him and, with her hand in his, lifted his arm to go around her shoulders, "would you like to go on a walk round here before we go home?"

"Sure," he rubbed her shoulder for a moment and they walked out of the gate down a random path, "this is a beautiful village."

"It's called Olney, it's actually a small town, we always used to come here as kids," she said, smiling fondly at the memories, "my parents weren't overly keen because there are muggles everywhere, but it was near to where we lived and all us kids loved it. It's mainly a market town actually, there are loads of good shops and cafés..."

"Really?" He looked down at her, "we should go to some, you could show me around?"

"Okay, but only a few places, yeah? It's quite cold."

"Sure, love."

They strolled down through the countryside, both of them completely unaware that yes, this would eventually be the town that their family would live and their children would grow up. For now, they were just Maeve and Remus, two young adults in the middle of a war.

≿ ————————　❈　———————— ≾

They got back to their apartment three or so hours after, having become so lost in all the wonderful shops and cafés there were in Olney that they had forgotten about the cold and their need for the warmth of their little apartment.

"I need a coffee," Remus said.

"I need a cigarette," Maeve muttered, pulling out a half-empty pack from her back pocket.

Remus handed her a lighter and she lit the cigarette, taking the first long drag before going to sit by the large bay window as Remus made coffee. She opened it slightly and looked out to the busy London street below.

"Do you want coffee, love?" Remus asked.

"Nah I'm alright, thanks," she replied, before taking another drag from the cigarette.

She listened to Remus hum an unfamiliar tune as he made his coffee, dancing round the kitchen happily. She grinned and said nothing, averting her attention back to the window. The skies were clearing, and a hint of sunlight was beginning to poke through from behind the clouds.

Maeve thought of her brother again. The more she allowed herself to think of him, the less sad she would be. She was beginning to just feel warm and nostalgic at the thought of him: her lovely older brother who was probably watching her and making sure she was okay, even though he wasn't physically there.

Remus came to sat beside her and they both looked out. He reached forward and held one of her hands in his and they sat in a comfortable quiet.

"GUYS!"

They both jumped and looked at Sirius who had just apparated abruptly into their kitchen, his eyes alight. Luckily Remus didn't know about what had happened the other night, so everything was normal, and it would remain that way.

"James' owl just dropped this off."

He handed them a piece of parchment with the words:

SHE SAID YES.

Go get the Lupins and GET YOUR BUTTS OVER HERE TO CELEBRATE.

"Oh my God!" Remus exclaimed with a shocked laugh, "he actually did it, and...wow..."

"Who would have known the lad had it in him, he bloody asked her to marry him! I didn't think he actually would," Sirius said.

"And she said yes, he's a lucky bastard," Maeve shook her head, laughing too, "let's go then!"

And they all apparated to congratulate and celebrate the now engaged couple.