The Sun and Her Moon- Remus Lupin

Flying Doves

"Yes," Remus gulped, and with that Hope pulled away.

Tears formed in her eyes as if she was trying to take in every last detail of her son. The crook of his nose, every last messy hair that stuck up from his head.

For a moment they stayed just like that. Mother staring at son, son staring at mother. Both wishing they could rewind the clock, for even a couple hours more of each other time.

But this was reality.

So when Remus Lupin was ready, he told his mother he loved her one last time, then turned his back and walked towards the train.

______

It happened sooner than anyone expected.

A week had flown by of getting back into the usual rhythm and time of assignments and class. Library in the evening, walking the hallways with the type of confidence only seventh year brought.

James, Sirius, Peter and Aveline were sitting under a tree near the black lake. The sun bright, sky blue, the sound of students running on grass and gossiping in the courtyard filling ears.

It was one of those afternoons that despite their book bags full of assignments that needed to be done, and chapters that needed to be read, all they could do was laze out in the spring sun, procrastination in the back on their minds.

The sound of crunching grass underneath feet caused Aveline to look up.  The sight of Remus Lupin walking towards them, a torn open parchment envelope clutched in his finger. His hair pulled to tuff on his head as if his fingers had racked through it one too many times. Crooked tie, untucked shirt— the walking embodiment of waking up late without time to grab a cup of coffee .

"Hey Moony," James greeted, his hand blocking the sun out of his eyes as he glanced up at the boy. "What have you been up—""

"My Mom's dead."

The heads of all four of the marauders sprang up as fast as humanly possibly without breaking necks. No one was faster then Aveline Rosier however, the girl practically catapulting her body off the ground and coming to a stand beside Remus so quickly that it looked like she had used magic to throw herself across the air.

Remus stood there, is jaw clenched and eyes wide and clear, his grip on the letter so tight it was like he was afraid it would blow away in the wind.

"Hope is gone?" Aveline confirmed gently, reached out and placing a gentle hand on his shoulder.

The rest of the boys had stood up, gathering around Remus with timid expressions of pain and worry.

A nod from Remus confirmed Aveline's question. The boys mouth still tightly shut.

He didn't know what he was supposed to do, he didn't know where he was supposed to go, but all he knew like autopilot, his legs automatically took him to find his friends.

"Remus," James crocked. "Remus I'm so sorry man."

James reached forward, pulling the boy in for a hug so tight it was like was trying to bind them together on the molecular level, and remove the pain from his body— cell by cell, little by little.

"It's okay—" Remus started to say, but then he felt the presence of three other people joining the hug.

There he was, Suddenly enveloped in the arms of his four best friends, and the persona of toughness faded till it was replaced with a gut wrenching sob wracking his chest. James pulled him tighter, rubbing his back and holding the boy as his legs threatened to give out from under him.