Remus' POV
The next time Remus saw Draco, it was nearly a month later, and the boy looked, if possible, even more grim and grey. They met in the same clearing in the woods outside of the small village in Ottery St. Catchpole, and Draco's appearance made Remus very glad that he hadn't brought Selene along with him.
Draco did exactly what he said he would do; he'd divulged to Remus any information pertaining to Voldemort or the Death Eaters that he could, whether it was new information or old. None of it could be of much use to the Order, but some of it Remus couldn't deny was very interesting.
"He's angry, you say?"
Draco nodded, running a hand through his blonde hair. Remus noticed vaguely that the boy was left-handed, like Selene. "Something's going on, he won't tell us what, but whatever it is, it must be pretty bad – like he's hit a setback or – or something. His anger makes him more dangerous than usual. Everyone's having to tiptoe around in order to avoid setting him off, and it's especially dangerous for me and my family – he's staying at the Manor, you see – so I've seen his anger firsthand."
Remus raised his eyebrows. A glimmer of hope fluttered through his chest. Could this setback be related to Harry's Horcrux hunt? Could Harry be making some headway? Could they actually make it through this, and – and kill him? Kill Voldemort?
"If he's that angry, though, he may be careless," Remus said, daring to hold on to this feeling of hope. "If the Order could take this opportunity – if you could just give us a little more, something that we could really use –"
Draco rubbed his face frustratedly. "I know, I'm trying, but they really don't tell me much. I'll admit, a sixteen-year-old Death Eater doesn't sit very high in Voldemort's ranks, so any information I get is just from stuff I overhear behind closed doors. I'm afraid that if I started asking too many questions, they'd start getting suspicious."
Remus exhaled a long sigh and nodded. "I suppose that's true. Still, though, if you could think of any way to procure something bigger, or – or if you hear of anything –"
"I'll come to you straight away," Draco finished quickly. "I swear. Anything to end this horror show once and for all. I – I want him out of my house, I want Aunt Selene safe – I want this over, Lupin."
"That's something we can both agree on, certainly," Remus said. "I feel as though half my life I've lived in wartime... I'm to the point that I'd do just about anything for some peace."
Draco shifted his stance uncomfortably, shoving his hands in his pockets. He looked hesitant, unsure. Then, he asked an unexpected question.
"How's Aunt Selene?"
Remus blinked. "Oh, er... She's doing great. The baby seems fine, and she's really excited – we're really excited, honestly. She's been thinking up names as of late, though we've agreed we want to leave the gender a surprise. We – er – we don't really care if the baby is a boy or a girl, as long as – well, as long as the baby's healthy."
Draco nodded. "Right..." He still looked uncomfortable, though now it was as if he was teetering on the edge of saying something else.
Remus knew from what Selene had told him about her nephew that Draco was typically a quick-witted boy with a harsh tongue and a darkly sarcastic sense of humour. He did remember a little of this from when he'd taught third-year Draco, but now, at sixteen-years-old, Draco Malfoy no longer resembled a sharp-tongued young boy raised in prejudice. Instead, a grim-faced young man filled with regret and fear stood before Remus, transformed by bad choices and bad influences and war.
"Aunt Selene deserves this."
Remus looked back up at Draco, surprised.
"She does," Draco said, pushing forward firmly. "She's the kindest person I know, though I suppose I don't know very many kind people. But I just want you to know that I'm doing all of this for her... because she's my family. She's always been there for me, and I just – I want to return the favour."
Remus stared at him. Then he said, "If we all survive this war, Draco, know that you're welcome over for dinner anytime. And that offer is not just from Selene."
This made Draco's face break into a genuine smile that Remus had never seen before, one that made him look more like his aunt than he ever had before.
"Thank you."
When Remus returned home half an hour later, he'd crawled into bed next to Selene, who was already long asleep. He threw his arms around his wife and drifted off almost immediately, hoping to dream of a life after war, a life filled with the sounds of children's feet pit-pattering through the cottage and of Selene's laugh echoing through the halls.
He felt he'd only been asleep for a few minutes when he was awoken once more by a sharp stirring in the bed next to him as Selene jolted upright in the bed next to him.
His heart clenched in fear. No, no, no, not again... she had to be alright, the baby had to be fine...
"What?" he asked, alarmed, sitting up and grasping her arm tightly. "What is it? What's wrong?"
Selene stared at him, wild-eyed.
"Selene," Remus said urgently. "Is the baby alright?"
"The baby's fine, Remus," she said in a soft, odd little voice, though Remus was not at all reassured. She was clutching her stomach, still staring at him, her mouth falling into a little 'o.'
"Are you sure?" he asked quickly. "Why are you staring at me like that?"
"Because, Remus," she said, her face suddenly lighting up with a grin, "the baby's kicking."
"What?" was all he could say, as his chest relaxed in relief.
"The baby's kicking!" she repeated excitedly. She grabbed his hand, moving it to rest on her belly. "Can you feel it?"
Remus pressed gently on her stomach, and he felt a thrill run through him as a little fluttering rose up to meet his hand.
As if their little baby was greeting them 'hello.'
"Oh, Selene..." Remus said softly, and then he kissed her like nothing else mattered – as if it were just the two of them in the world, with no cares or worries or stresses. As if Harry were just away on a trip, soon to come back to them. As if their friends were alive and well and came over regularly for Sunday dinners.
As if their world wasn't threatening to tear their family apart.
"I love you," she whispered to him softly, smiling widely. "I love us."
Remus grinned. "I do too."
It was a moment of perfection, tucked away into the darkness of night, illuminated only by a sliver of a crescent moon and the stars in the sky.
If they could only live in that moment forever.
If only moments lasted forever...
But moments don't last. They fade away, just like everything else. And sometimes, like this time, they are ruined, abruptly interrupted by outside disasters threatening to close in.
Knock, knock, knock.
"Who would be at the door at this time of night?" Selene whispered, her eyes wide with fear. "The only people who can get onto the property are the Weasleys and Draco, and I really don't think they'd come here this late unless it was an emergency –"
"An emergency," Remus said suddenly, jumping out of bed with a sense of urgency. "You don't think – you don't think Harry, Ron, and Hermione – if it were an emergency –"
And then Selene was getting out of bed too, throwing on one of Remus' old sweatshirts. "Well, we have to go open the door – we have to see –"
Remus couldn't even argue, because in the next moment, they were both stumbling down the stairs, headed for the entryway. Remus reached the front door first, pushing Selene gently behind him and pulling his wand out, just in case.
"I've got your back," she whispered softly, pulling her own wand out as well and reaching around Remus to point it at the door.
Remus exhaled, his hand on the doorknob. He turned it and pulled the door open quickly.
"It's me, it's Ron! Don't hex me!"
The redheaded boy looked slightly windswept and harassed, his hair ruffled messily and his clothes slightly dingy. He had a rucksack slung over his shoulder and his wand held at his side. His eyes were wide, staring straight at them.
Remus and Selene did not lower their wands.
"Er," Ron said quickly. "Selene, er, do you remember when you were teaching me to fly when I was nine, and you told everyone that I'd crashed into the chicken coop and destroyed it? Only it wasn't me, it was you, and you made me swear not to tell –"
"Alright, alright!" Selene exclaimed. "Blimey, Remus, it's him!" She narrowed her eyes at Ron. "You swore you'd never mention it again."
Ron moved inside the cottage as Remus stepped aside to let him pass through, closing the door behind him. "Sorry, it was the first thing I could think of."
"Where's Harry?" Remus asked, his voice strained with worry. "And Hermione? What are you doing here? Are they all right?"
Ron looked hesitant. "They're fine," he said awkwardly. "We – we split up."
"What?" Selene said quickly. "What do you mean 'split up'? Where are they? What happened?"
Ron was looking increasingly uncomfortable. His eyes shifted between the two adults and then all around them, as if looking for an escape, as if whatever he was going to tell them next was going to cause them to attack him.
Remus seemed to sense this. "Ron, why don't you come sit down, and then you can tell us exactly what happened."
Ron nodded quickly, and Remus gestured for him to walk further into the house, towards the living room. Once Ron had settled himself onto the couch, he looked at Remus and Selene with such a grim expression that Remus' heart began to sink in dread.
"We found a Horcrux a few weeks ago," Ron finally said, his voice heavy and slow. "We got it off Umbridge at the Ministry –"
Selene looked horrified. "You went to the Ministry –?"
"Selene," Remus said quietly, "let him finish." He suspected he was about to find out why Voldemort had been so angry as of late.
Ron looked uncertainly between them before continuing, fiddling with his fingers in his lap. "It – it was the locket, we found the real locket. Of course, once we'd gotten the Horcrux, we realized that we had no way to destroy it, and soon, it had become clear that we had no leads on finding any of the rest of them. At the same time, we were all trading around wearing the Horcrux, to keep it safe until we could destroy it, and – and every time I put it on..."
He rubbed his face with his hands frustratedly.
"Every time I put it on, I could feel all of my uncertainty and frustration and insecurities flooding my brain," he said quietly. "It made everything so much worse, and I felt all of these things – my mind was telling me all of these things – that I didn't really think, and one night, I'd had enough, and everything – everything came out all at once."
He groaned, just as Remus and Selene exchanged a glance.
"I said some things to Harry that I didn't mean," he said. "I mean, some really, really nasty things. And then I stormed out. I didn't know where to go, but I remembered that you guys had offered us a place here if things got rough, and – and –"
Ron looked up at them, his eyes glossy and the tips of his ears bright red.
"You left them?" Selene asked in a hushed tone that grew increasingly louder. "You left my son in the middle of – of all this? He trusted you –"
"Selene, please," Remus whispered. His eyes were on Ron, who had his eyes trained on the ground in shame.
Selene shut her mouth quickly, her eyes wide. "I'm – I'm sorry, I just..."
Her voice trailed off awkwardly.
"I know," Ron said quietly. "I regretted it all as soon as I'd left, but – but they're probably so mad, I don't think they'd even want me back."
"Ron, you know that's not true," Remus said. "If anything, they're probably worried about where you are and what you're doing."
Ron looked skeptical. "Yeah, I don't know. You weren't there... you didn't see how it went down..."
The guilt in his voice was palpable.
Selene sighed. "Ron, you're Harry and Hermione's best friend. You're all under a lot of pressure while on the run, constantly in danger..." She frowned, reaching over to touch his arm gently. "They're probably already wondering when you'll come back to them."
Ron shook his head. "I don't know about that, Selene... and even if that's true, I don't – I don't know that I'm ready to go back just yet..."
"Then stay," Remus said firmly. "I told Harry, and I'll tell you just the same. We offered the cottage up to you three as a place of sanctuary, and that offer still stands. You're welcome to stay, Ron, until you're ready to go back."
"I – I couldn't possibly –" Ron said, his eyes suddenly wide. They flickered down to the growing baby bump forming between Selene's hips and then back to Remus. "I don't want to be a burden."
"You're not a burden," Selene said softly. "You're family."
And with that and another moment's hesitation, Ron nodded. And he stayed.