BLOOD AND CHOCOLATE - REMUS LUPIN

73 - "ALMOST THERE"

"You kept this?"

"I like to keep things to remind me of people when I'm away from them."

"Or we could just do this."

Hollis had swiftly jumped onto Remus, wrapping her legs around his waist to support herself while she kissed him.

"Yea, I'm sure to remember that, too."

A knock on his white painted door snapped Remus out of the flashback the small wrapper had provoked. "Hurry up, Remus, we agreed to meet the Potters at Platform 9 3/4 in less than an hour!" Hope called through the door.

Remus shoved the wrapper into the pocket of his grey sweatpants.

"Yea, coming mum!"

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As they sat in the foyer of Potter Manor while waiting for Mia and Fleamont to come down so that they could apparate to the platform, James and Sirius both felt an unpleasant weight on their shoulders.

Neither of the two boys had told a single soul, even Mia, where they had been that night in July, still not quite believing themselves that they had just left her there. They had both experienced several nightmares of the events at Rosier Manor, waking up in a panicked, cold sweat. Neither was quite sure how they were going to be able to look Hollis in the eye, or if she had even remembered that they were there with her.

A not-so-small, selfish part of Sirius hoped that she hadn't so that all guilt could be erased. Although he would never admit it, James felt the same way. It would all be easier if they just pretended like everything was normal.

A dirty, guilty secret was following the two Gryffindors around, and they both felt it.

I'm starting to understand why she doesn't ever want to bring up or tell us this shit, James thought. It's so much better if we're just happy. God, Hollis. I'm so sorry.

"You don't have to look that depressed about going back to school," Fleamont joked as his two sons seemed snapped out of a trance by his voice.

"Yea, sorry," muttered James, uncharacteristically quiet.

The parents exchanged a concerned glance at the state of the two. "Is everything okay, boys?" Mia prompted gently as she moved over to where they were both slumped in their chairs.

"I just don't think either of us got much sleep last night," Sirius said as he stood up and forced a smile on his face.

This, at least, was true.

"Well no more dillydallying, we have to meet the Lupins!"

It was James and Sirius's turn to look at each other nervously. Both were sure that Remus would be absolutely furious if he ever figured out that they had left Hollis.

"Brilliant."

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Hollis gave her outfit one last look in the mirror. Baggy black sweatpants paired with an equally baggy dark green sweatshirt.

She normally would have never worn an outfit this loose, but it hid how alarmingly thin she had become well. Frowning slightly, Hollis looked at her blank left forearm for the last time. For months, it would have a fake Dark Mark on it while at Hogwarts, the necessary actions she had to take for their plan to work. Hollis planned on hiding the mark to the best of her ability, but she knew deep down that feat would be one of the most difficult things she would have to do in her life.

Sabotaging the Death Eaters with inside information would be worth it, she thought as she made sure her inky black eyeliner wasn't smudged. They deserve it, and Regulus and I deserve this revenge.

There was still the fact that her parents hadn't seen Hollis since she braided hair and found that makeup that night after more bloodroot was forced down her throat.

With a slight grunt, Hollis slammed her trunk down onto the floor of the Rosier Manor foyer. Evan came down from the huge, spiraling marble staircase a few minutes later, Mulstone and Vindia following shortly after.

Not sparing a second glance at their daughter until Mulstone gripped her wrist for the side-along apparition, Vindia's eyes widened when she saw the improper state of her daughter. Mrs. Rosier was about to open her mouth before Hollis got to it before her.

"It's going to be a bit suspicious if we apparte to the platform and I'm either covered in blood or being internally set on fire by a potion, isn't it, mother?"

Vindia reluctantly knew that her daughter had a point; the Rosier reputation would suffer, and that was not something she could take any more of. Hollis tried to hide the small smirk as a product of her little victory as Mulstone gripped her wrist tighter.

With three almost simultaneous cracks, Remus Lupin, Sirius Black, James Potter, and Hollis Rosier apparated into the bustling crowds of Platform 9 3/4.

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