BECOMING PRONGSLET ⟶ Harry Potter

Chapter Six

"I'm sorry it's not workin' out the way you wanted, Milo," Hagrid apologised to him. It hadn't gone unnoticed that the boy had been looking around during the entire trip for a mere glimpse of the man, but it seemed Remus was long gone as Hagrid suspected. 

"I understand, Hagrid," Milo said as Paden crawled down his arm and went to investigate Milo's drink. "You told me not to get my hopes up and it was for good reason. Like you said, there was no guarantee of me seeing him."

"Why do you look so upset, darling?"

A woman's light voice dragged Milo out his pity mode and brought him to look over and see a beautiful woman smiling at him. Her hazel gaze seemed to twinkle as she looked at him with a curious smile as she waited for Milo's answer. Normally, Milo would have hesitated to confide in a stranger but she seemed friendly, not realising that Hagrid had suddenly started to hold his breath with a wide-eyed gaze.

"I was just hoping to see someone today, my uncle. But it's not a big deal."

"Not a big deal, eh?" She said, keeping the same smile on her face. "If it's not a big deal then why are you frowning like that?"

"I guess I'm just disappointed that's all."

"Ah, so now the truth comes out, I knew you had it in you," she chuckled. She looked over Milo's shoulder and waved in the direction of the man who had still yet to breathe behind Milo. "Hello, Hagrid."

"Elspeth, what are you doing here?" Hagrid finally spoke as he looked at the woman with a bewildered expression. "When did you get here?"

"Oh, I've been around, Hagrid, I'm always around even when people don't think I am. But I've been playing nanny for awhile with this one."

"Nanny?" Hagrid repeated until she pointed off in another direction. Milo and Hagrid turned and suddenly, it was Milo's turn to stop breathing when he caught sight of Remus Lupin making his way over. It seemed he was returning from the washroom, still attempting to dry his hands before he rubbed them against his shabby robes.

Apparently, Milo had been mistaken because while he recognised the man before him as the same man in the photos, Remus had certainly changed in a decade's time. He looked rough and that was Milo putting it gently with terminology. He looked tired and he certainly didn't look like a man in his thirties, he looked much older. 

"Elspeth, have you seen my-" Remus called out to the woman, only to look up and stop. He looked positively horrified in that moment as his eyes settled on Milo. The boy was sitting next to the woman he called to and he could certainly recognise Hagrid right away. Milo was staring right at him, there was no mistaken the older Potter boy. Not in a million years, the elements of James staring right back at him. 

"Uncle Remus!" Milo said brightly, climbing down from the stool he had been sitting on. "You're here! You're actually here! I was hoping to see you but there was no telling if we were going to run into each other. What good luck, right? This is amazing-"

The boy rambled on and on excitedly, leaving Remus overwhelmed as he was just taking in everything, not to mention highly confused by the scene of a bowtruckle drinking butterbeer. The woman named Elspeth had yet to stop smiling but there was no smile on Remus' face as he continued to look down at the boy in shock.

"What are you doing here?" Was his first question, finally bringing Milo's rambling to an end.

"I was looking for you," Milo answered him. 

"But why?" Remus couldn't wrap his head around the thought, why would anyone be looking for him?

"Because you're my uncle, I...I have pictures of you and..." Milo suddenly frowned as he stared up at the man.  "You're not very happy to see me, are you?"

"No, Milo, it's not that at all. I just...you shouldn't have come looking for me."

"But why not?" Milo questioned. "You're family! Harry and I only just met up last year and I thought it would be great if he could meet you again too."

"I'm not family-"

"You can't say that," Milo told him, shaking his head, "I have a photo of you all with my dad. On the back, he called you all his brothers. Things might have changed somewhat with that, but you're still around, he still looked at you as a brother, which means I still see you as an uncle. There are pictures of us together.... I brought some of them if you want to see-"

Milo went to dig in his pockets but Remus stopped him before gently releasing the boy's hand. The poor boy didn't understand what was wrong, what had he done wrong for Remus not wanting to see him or interact. He also didn't understand that seeing pictures of happy times would proceed to break Remus' heart right then and there in the middle of the pub.

Finally, the smile had faded from Elspeth's face as she and Hagrid exchanged silent looks with one another. 

"I'm so sorry, Milo," Remus shook his head and looked away from him, " this was all a mistake. You shouldn't have come here looking for me. "

"But it wasn't a mistake I wanted to see y-"

"It was a mistake," Remus said in a stern tone, " it was a mistake because I...I'm not your uncle and I'm not your godfather, I-"

"Godfather?" Milo repeated. The two held eye contact for about five seconds, Milo with a questioning look as he just stared at the man. "You're my-"

"Did you not just hear what I said, I'm not!" Remus said. "You're better off without me around, Milo. Please, don't come looking for me again."

"Remus-" Elspeth called to the man with in a tone of disbelief of how he was talking to the boy.

"We're leaving," Remus said, " or I'm leaving, you can stay if you wish...."

The man started walking towards the door to leave, not bothering to turn around to see if Elspeth was following him. But Milo was not about to let it all go so easily as something seemed to possess him for a short period of time as he called after the man.

"Don't walk away from me. Family doesn't turn their back on each other, my father never turned his back on you, did he? Why are you going to do it to me now? Where do you have to be that's suddenly so important? I came here to see you, to talk to you because you meant so much to my parents, I thought you could mean the same for me! But I guess that's not the case, is it?"

The pub fell silent as all eyes were on the two, Milo was standing tall looking in the direction of Remus, who slowly began to turn to him. Suddenly, he didn't look angry as he did before, he looked saddened by the whole event. 

"I don't expect you to understand, Milo. I wish you well."

With that, Remus walked out of the pub, the door closing behind him as not another word was said between the two.