Tartan Books & Longing Looks

epilogues & endings

The end.

*

7 years later

Remus tugged and tugged at the key, internally swearing and berating himself. He'd been doing this for almost a decade, you'd think that after all this time he would be able to open his own damn door. He cursed himself again for being so stubborn and refusing to get the old lock fixed, insisting that it was fine, however, he was not fine.

"Need some help?" A smug cockney voice called, and Remus knew exactly who the voice belonged to.
"Nope, 'm fine," Remus replied with a grunt, begging the old key to turn, his forever competitive side telling him that he needed to win this fight, don't back down.

"You dinnae look fine," Sirius teased, and Remus knew that if he could see him, there would be a massive smirk plastered all over his beautiful, no, infuriating face. So Remus chose not to reply, instead using his other hand to try and push the key through the rusting lock.

"You know Moony, that key would be a lot easier to turn if we got new locks..." Sirius trailed off, leaning against the doorway so that he was now in Remus's peripheral vision, irritating him more and more with each passing second.

"Fuck off," Remus said, giving it one last rage fuelled yank, and successfully clicking the door open, finally letting him into his own bloody shop.
"Success! And what? It only took you..." Sirius looked down at his imaginary watch, "ten minutes?"
"New record, go me," Remus deadpanned, dropping the shopping on the counter and hopping over it, bending down to collect his apron from underneath the register.

"I'm serious though babe, I really think we should get new locks," Sirius said, unstacking the chairs and placing them at the tables.
"I know you're Sirius , I've only been dating ya for seven years," Remus joked, avoiding the question.

"Oh hardy-har," Sirius said sarcastically, setting out the day's menus and laying out the cutlery.

"Don't forget, dinner with the Potters tonight, be there for seven," Sirius reminded, pointing to the calendar on the café wall, where a big red circle with, Party Dinner* at Potters, was written.

"Wait, aren't we arriving together?" Remus asks, chucking Sirius's apron at him, walking into the kitchen, still not used to how big it was now after they had gotten it redone so that they could start surviving proper lunches and dinners. The Lunar Café had turned into a mini-restaurant, with Sirius cooking the main meals and Remus doing the desserts.

"I'll already be there, I'm babysitting Prongs Jr so that they can get everything together for the meal," Sirius explained, tying his signature black apron around his waist, knowing that it would probably be dirty by tonight, he was a messy cook.

"Well then, why don't I come as well, keep you company?" Remus called from the kitchen, fishing out the batter he'd prepped the night before.

"No, don't do that, God no. Just, no ," Sirius spluttered, making Remus stop what he was doing, heart sinking slightly. Sirius had been so secretive lately, sometimes going out for hours at a time, spending all of his time with James. Remus didn't want to fear the worst but he found it harder and harder to ignore the signs.

"Alright, okay then," Remus said, slightly deflated.
"So be there for seven, yeah?" Sirius said, walking into the kitchen, looking unusually nervous.
"Yeah, seven."

*

"Rem, this is Sirius we're talking about here, he'd never cheat on you," Lily argued, wiping down the sticky counter with a rag.
"I know, but he's been acting so weird lately, like this morning he told me he was babysitting Harry, but where's Harry? Here. With you, so he's obviously not babysitting Harry, he lied to me, Lils."

"Moon Moon!" Harry adorably called from his highchair that was specially placed where they could keep an eye on him, whilst also serving customers and making lunch.
"I told you, he's with James, we swapped places," Lily shrugged, picking up three coffees and balancing them perfectly. Her days as a waitress at uni had certainly helped in the café.

"Shit, where's Tonks, I shouldn't even be doing this, I own the bloody place," Lily muttered, somehow able to balance a tray of cakes as well as the coffees.
"She's gonna be late in today, she told us like three weeks ago she had a hair appointment," Remus defended their teenage waitress, who the three had hired to help them with the large number of customers they now had.

"Och, wonder what colour that lassie's hair will be today," Lily scoffed with a fond smile.
"My personal favourite was the pink."
"I liked her blue moment, not gonna lie," Lily replied.

"Well this time she's green!" Tonks announced, giving the pair a fright.
"Holy hell— a little warning eh?" Lily yelped, managing not to drop the trays.