The Marriage Law // Remus Lupin

xli. it would've been you

Remus had left to go with Harry to the Weasley's just under an hour ago, leaving Aurora with a kiss on the forehead and a now cold cup of tea beside her.

"You look...pensive." Regulus' voice came from behind her. She was sat on one of the kitchen stools, hadn't moved much since Remus left.

"It's called thinking," She sighed as she turned her head towards the younger boy. "You and your brother should try it some time."

"Ha ha, you're so funny." He moved to take the empty seat next to her.

Aurora grinned over at him, receiving a small smile in return. "No work?" She asked, curious as to why he was still in the house on a Thursday.

She watched as Regulus' smile turned to something more of a grimace. "No one wants to hire a death eater." He said, rolling up his sleeve to show her the brand permanently marked on his inner forearm. With the death of Voldemort it had changed from appearing to be a tattoo into a scar.

"You weren't a proper death eater, though. You destroyed all of the horcruxes, allowing James to kill Voldemort."

"I was though, I had the mark. And anyway, it's fine. It's not like I have anyone I need to support." He shrugged it off, eyes glued to his forearm as he rolled the shirt sleeve back down to cover the scar.

Aurora was quiet for a moment, letting his words sink in, noticing his bitter words towards being alone. She never had been good at consoling people; Benjy was never sad and Lois would rarely be upset. "In Greek Mythology, humans were said to have two heads, four arms, and four legs. Zeus split them in half, leaving the other to try and find their other half, their 'soulmate'."

"This isn't helping, you know?" Regulus interrupted.

She chose to ignore him, continuing with her speech. "If that happened over 40 millenniums ago, generations would have passed, splitting pieces of the first soulmate into more and more people."

"And your point is?" He asked when she had finished.

"My point is, that I don't think there's only one person out there for you. Whoever your soulmate was that they chose was obviously the closest thing you could get. But that doesn't mean there's only one. You could have a girl, or a guy, out there that is still an almost perfect match for you. There is no 'the one'."

"And you don't think Remus is 'the one'?" He asked again, a tiny smirk starting to grow on his face.

Aurora hummed, thinking about his question for a minute. "I think he's the closest I could get. So, no more of this debbie downer," He nodded slowly, letting her carry on. "And you've got to promise me that you will try to be happy, whether that means finding a job, hobby, or person that you will love. Okay?" Regulus was grinning at her now, promising to try. "Now, let's go have a picnic."

They quickly made sandwiches and found a blanket to lay in the garden for them to sit on. "How large does a garden need to be?" Aurora found herself asking, looking out at the expanse of grass that disappeared under the trees that surrounded them.

"The size of a quidditch pitch apparently." Regulus supplied, joining her on the blanket, two cups of water in his hands.

"You still play?" She questioned, taking one cup from his hands.

"Not so much anymore. Maybe when Harry's older, or Lois and Sirius' kid grows up a little."

"They told you?" She grinned at him, receiving a nod.

"They cornered me yesterday to tell me, they said you already knew." Aurora hummed and allowed them to fall into a comfortable silence, eating their sandwiches under the sun.

"Do you ever want children?" She asked him, wondering what he would be like raising a child.

"Maybe," He shrugged. "I've never thought about it. What about you?"

"Some day, yes, I do. I know Remus wants children too, even though he'll tell you he doesn't." Her mind went back to the day at the zoo, when Remus told her that it wasn't likely that they were going to have any children. That was something she needed to ask him about, if his thoughts about it had changed. "I have a question for you." She told Regulus.

He turned his head to face her, an eyebrow already risen. "What is it?"

Some nights you stay here, and others you don't. So where on Earth do you live?"

"Ah," He grinned. "It's a secret."

Aurora opened her mouth to insult him, but was cut off by the loud crack of someone apparating onto the property. Her head turned away from Regulus and towards the direction of where the noise came from, next to the back door. Remus was standing there with Harry holding his hand, clutching it for dear life, and bright yellow hair.

"I don't think Lily will be happy when she sees that, or James for that matter. Lois might." She told Remus, nodding towards Harry's bright head.

Remus sighed, obviously trying to hold back a laugh for Harry's sake as he let go of his hand and let him waddle to Regulus. "The twins did it." He said.

Aurora bit her lip to restrain a smile, dusting herself off as she stood up to fold the blanket as no one was on it anymore, Regulus having taken Harry inside. "Did you have a good time?"

"I did." He smiled at her, taking her hands in his and pulling her closer to him. "Did you?"

"I did." She echoed his words back to him, a matching smile adorning her face. "Want to head inside?"

AN:
reread? no :)
bit of a weird cut off but i couldn't think of anything else
sorry for the long wait, i rewrote the beginning of this chapter over 10 times :/

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fuck, marry, kill: hermione, luna, ginny