BLOOD AND CHOCOLATE - REMUS LUPIN

61 - "THE BROKEN FLOWER"

CHAPTER SIXTY-ONE

"the broken flower"

On the sunny back porch of Lupin Cottage, Remus sat with his parents. He himself was leaning up against the wooden post supporting the awning, his back pressed against the smooth, richly brown hickory. Hope was swaying back and forth in a wicker rocking chair while sketching out the landscape in front of her for a painting she was working on. Next to his wife, Lyall had a set of shining steel knitting needles in his hands and was creating a new blanket with agility. The gentle click of metal needles colliding and a copper quill nub scratching against thick parchment mingled with the sound of wind piercing through Lolchant and rustling the crisp, jade colored pine needles. A powerful breeze caught hold of the scents of the wildflowers that had naturally bloomed in their yard during these early summer weeks. The wind carried their sweet, delicate smell and wafted it into Remus's senses. In the sunset, a small pink pastel flower glistened as the sun pierced through its thin petals with a strong orange light.

Leaning forwards, Remus deftly plucked the flower out of the ground. Tiny specks of brown, soft earth sprinkled onto the porch, making a small monochromatic pattern of brown against brown.

It was hard to believe that it was only yesterday when Remus had placed a flower just like this behind Hollis's ear. Closing his eyes, he tried to envision that he was back on the Hogwarts grounds with her. However, this idyllic memory quickly turned sour when Remus remembered the way he had encouraged James, the way that Hollis had looked at him with confusion and slight disgust, the blood of a misdirected cut dripping down her cheek like a morbid tear. How she and Lily had shouted at him and Potter for nearly an hour afterward about the way they treated Snape, how both boys had felt terrible not for their actions, but how they affected the two girls they cared about so much.

Remus could still picture the blaze in Hollis's narrowed eyes as she paced, not unlike the sun setting on their cottage at the very moment. He instantly regretted comparing something at his home and linking it to her.

Now everything was beginning to remind him of her.

A series of small indents in the form of tiny pawprints in the small soft patches of rust mud made Remus think of Hollis teaching them to become Anigmagi, and the many nights they spent together as a minuscule fox and large werewolf.

Floating through the air, a tuft of pine needles landing on his feet from the forest's edge reminded him of the conditioner Hollis used to wash her hair, or how she smelled after a full moon or a Care of Magical Creatures class surrounded by the ground's fragrant trees.

Shutting his eyes, Remus tried to think of anything except her. But then that just made the images even more vivid, and he wanted to scream.

"How do you stop thinking about something?" asked Remus with a slightly desperate tone, turning towards where his mum and dad were sitting behind him.

Hope's eyes softened at her son as she set down her almost finished sketch on the hand-carved chestnut wooden stool next to her. Knowing her son almost better than herself, it was obvious to Hope that Remus wasn't thinking of something, but someone.

The two Lupin parents exchanged a glance; their son was obviously still fixated on the girl they had yet to meet at the train station.

"Why are you thinking about her?" replied Lyall kindly.

Remus wasn't even surprised anymore at their ability to know what he was thinking of. "Uhm, well yesterday after our last O.W.L. James got into a bit of a scrap with Severus," he explained with slight discomfort, scratching the back of his head. "You know how he can be."

Lyall and Hope synchronously nodded in understanding. Remus had brought home stories or letters of James's unprovoked cruelty towards the Snape boy on several occasions.

"And then Lily was trying to get James to stop, and while they were talking Severus got his wand back and tried to curse James." Remus sighed deeply. "Unfortunately, Hol was trying to get to Lily at the exact moment Snape threw his spell at James. And, well, the spell cut her down her cheek instead of James."

Hope's hand went to her mouth in surprise over her mouth, and Lyall slowly shook his head. During his time at Hogwarts, things like this had happened often, especially between him and Abraxas Malfoy. Mr. Lupin had secretly hoped these teenage duels would calm down when his son attended Hogwarts. To his disappointment, they obviously hadn't.

Hope was nervously observing the guilty look on her son's face. "And what did you do, Remus?"

Fiddling with the stem of the pink flower between his fingers, Remus frowned.

"Hollis kept trying to get James to stop hanging Severus upside down, and James and I just kept telling her that he deserved it." Hope sighed slightly, while her husband was focused on something else that their son had said.

"You said this girl wanted James to stop bullying the boy even after he hurt her?" asked Lyall, not sure if he had heard correctly. "Isn't that a bit against instinct? I wouldn't be above that when I was your age."

"Well, yea, that's Hollis for you," replied Remus, smiling slightly as he looked down at the tiny flower again. "Fierce as they come when it's about helping someone."

Lyall smiled at his son and placed a hand over his wife's palm resting on the wooden arm of the wicker rocking chair. "Remind me why you don't invite her over for dinner?"

Hope cut Lyall off before Remus could answer. "Dear, have you forgotten that poor girl's parents at the station?" He shook his head, continuing with his point.

"Yes, I know their reputation and demeanor, but it's not like we're asking them to come over. Just their daughter, what harm could that do to them?" said Lyall, frowning slightly at the implied discontent at his idea.

This time, Remus spoke before his mother could, still rubbing the stem back and forth between his fingers. "I don't want her to get hurt, dad," he intejected quickly, vigorously shaking his head full of thick auburn hair just like his father's.

Hope's dark green eyes turned slightly angry.

"Remus, I know how they acted awfully at the station, but the Rosiers don't get much worse than that, right?" Mrs. Lupin asked for reassurance.

Wishing that he could truthfully answer that a controlling hand and harsh words were the worst of things inflicted upon Hollis by her parents, Remus sadly shook his head.

"I'm afraid they get much, much worse."

The flower's thin green stem split down the middle, no longer able to support it's bloom.

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