Remus sat at his desk, eyes skipping over the lines of correspondence between himself and Helia. They had started a new piece of parchment, this one bigger. The writing's had started off as proper letters, and devolved into the wizard-equivilent of texting, often flying between them five or six times a day. Remus had been sure the family bird now hated him with a fiery passion ever since he had found some suspicious looking brown pellets in his sock drawer. He didn't question how the owl had got into his sock drawer, but was sure it required more effort than the animal put into delivering it's post on time.
FROM: HELIA BLACKSMITH
R,
Hey, I was wondering, when you do your whole wolf thing, do you actually remember anything that happens? Can you send me a list of symptoms? I'm trying to work out if the reality of werewolves is more like The Mortal Instruments or Teen Wolf or whatever. It'll give me a good gage and also an excuse to binge watch TV.
From H
FROM: REMUS LUPIN
Hi H,
I've attached a list of the stuff I remember, but I have no idea what teen wolf or the mortal instruments are. To be honest I've barely watched any TV. My mum's a muggle, but I don't really know a lot about the culture.
-R
FROM: HELIA BLACKSMITH
R,
Okay, I've identified a serious problem right now. Here is a new list detailing all of the movies you NEED to have watched to claim you've achieved anything in life (you can skip the Star Wars prequels btw). How's life?
-H
Remus glanced at that particular note, and then at the hastily drawn up to-do-list accompanying it. There were several that he had heard of (The Avengers, Toy Story, Finding Nemo), but for every one of them, there were ten more that he had no idea about. Smiling, he jotted a quick note and sent it flying out of the window.
FROM: REMUS LUPIN
H,
I do not have the free time to watch all those films (also, Forest Gump sounds like a disease). Merry Christmas, by the way, if you don't get this until tomorrow. I think our owl is one late-night letter away from going on strike. No school, so life is good, but I'll admit, it's weird not seeing you around.
-R
Remus leaned back in his seat. Less than a minute later, the bird reappeared. Remus' first thought was that it had finally had enough of his bullshit, but then he saw the muggle parchment (which he later learned was called paper) attached to it's leg.
FROM: HELIA BLACKSMITH
Look outside.
...........................
The place Remus called home was a small English cottage resting comfortably between two hills. It's thatched roof and adorably mismatched wooden furniture were what made it so comfortably charming. It was the kind of house that was beautiful without feeling like you were ruining it just by being there.
Glancing out of his window in the attic, Remus was greeted with the familiar sight of the neatly mowed grass overflowing with wildflowers and the picket fence that ringed the perimeter, finished with a small iron gate.
What was different, jarringly so, was the small figure sat in the middle of the lawn, dark blue eyes turned up to the window that she had seen the owl disappear through. Her black hair cascaded down around her pale, freckled face, escaping from the confines of her cloak.
Helia Blacksmith was in his back garden.
It took Remus less than a minute to shove on a pair of jeans, pull a hoodie over his pyjama shirt and run downstairs (though he thanked his advanced werewolf genetics for that one epic leap over the laundry his mum had left on the kitchen floor. It would have made it into a YouTube complilation if anyone had been filming it. It was just that badass). The cool air brushed his face, barely noticeable, as things like temperature tend to be when your brain was focused somewhere else, such as the teenage girl with pretty eyes currently sat underneath your window.
"Hi," he said breathlessly, words announcing themselves in cool puffs of mist, "What are you doing here?"
Helia quirked an eyebrow, and then frowned at herself, forcing her facial muscles to move the eyebrow back to it's normal position on her face. Remus was standing over her by this point, but she made no attempt to get up or move. "You don't sound that happy to see me, Gryffindor."
Remus frowned. "Are we back to 'Gryffindor' again now?" he asked, disappointment tinging his tone. "In the Forest... I thought..."
Helia broke eye contact. She didn't want to talk about anything she said- or did- in the Forbidden Forest. She would be happy, in fact, never hearing the phrase 'in the Forest' ever again, particularly in the daydreams and thoughts that had been haunting her since that one night of failed apparition.
The Forest had made her feel safe talking about her past, and dredging up old memories. The Forest had made her feel like she could talk freely to the cute boy she was so unlucky to be stuck with alone in the middle of nowhere. The Forest had made her feel like it was okay to, maybe not break the walls that she'd built up, but perhaps knock a brick out, peek through the opening a bit. The Forest had made her feel like the past didn't exist and she was just Helia Blacksmith, with an unblemished life, laughing with her friend because she could, and why shouldn't she?
The Forest had lied to her.
"Didn't want to keep you waiting, Wolfy." she said, completely ignoring what he had said.
Remus decided, for once, that he didn't care what questions were dodged, instead opting to sit with his friend on the freezing, due-heavy grass. Helia smiled, reaching behind her and pulling out a small present hastily wrapped in faded Christmas paper that looked like it had been bought years ago and then never used.
"Merry Christmas, Moon Boy." she said softly, handing him the gift.
Remus felt his eyes widen. "Oh... I didn't... I didn't get you anything."
Helia snorted, leaning back on her elbows. "You haven't opened it yet. I wouldn't get worked up. Honestly, it's more for me than you."
Curiosity teasing his mind, Remus examined the messy job Helia had done of the wrapping. The paper appeared to be covered in dancing Storm Troopers with Santa hats on and a number of bad holiday puns that Remus didn't quite get, like "How did Darth Vader know what Luke got him for Christmas?" and then, just underneath: "He felt his presents!". Truth be told, Remus found the whole thing rather confusing.
"Can I open it?" he asked, glancing at Helia, who grinned, instantly setting him at ease.
"I doubt good ol' Saint Nick will mind you opening your gifts early just this once. Not if you've been a good boy all year." She said, tipping her head back to look at the stars above them.
Remus, taking that as a yes, began gingerly pulling at the fabric, gaining confidence as it ripped. A small bottle filled with suspicious amber-looking liquid fell out, along with a stuffed toy of a rodent wearing a lab coat.
"That's your first clue." Helia said, pointing to the cartoonish cuddly toy.
"I don't under-"
"You're my lab rat." Helia clarified. She picked up the small bottle. On closer examination, it appeared to be an empty plastic juice carton. "For me to test this on."
"What do you-" Remus hit understanding face first, hardly daring to believe what was in front of him. "That thing to stop me wolfing out..." He pointed at the substance "Is that...?"
Helia winked.
"That..." Remus felt the sudden urge to blink. "I can't..."
"It wont be perfect yet." Helia warned. "Think of this as a BETA test."
Remus nodded, barely hearing her as he took the bottle in his hands, plastic crackling. ""It'll stop me from being a werewolf?" he finally managed to form a coherent question, disbelief clear in his barely-hearable register.
"Not entirely." Helia said. "It's more like it'll stop you being dangerous. Instead of thirsting for blood, you'll curl up and go to sleep. You don't have to worry about hurting anyone. It's more like a drug than a potion really." Helia paused in thought for a moment, then said brightly, "I'm going to drug you!"
Remus opened his mouth, and then closed it again.
"It's safe, I promise." Helia assured him, obviously concerned by his lack of response. "The only negative effect I could find on humans was a bit of tiredness. And it wont help how you feel before or after a full moon, but it's something." As Remus continued to stare at her, Helia began speaking quicker as if her increased pace would reassure him. "Of course, I don't know about what it will do to werewolves, but I didn't have a very large sample size for testing there and-"
Her next words were cut off as Remus pulled her into a hug. He felt her stiffen against him before relaxing, leaning against Remus' chest. "Thank you." he whispered, barely able to even express his gratitude his voice was so overflowing with emotion. "Thank you so much."
Helia hid her smile in his shoulder.
.................
Some time passed before either decided to move.
They ended up laying side by side on the damp earth, staring up at the steadily lightening heavens.
"Wait!" Helia exclaimed, choking on a laugh "You can't have actually not seen any Disney movies!"
Remus tilted his head to the side to watch her laugh. It sounded like Christmas. "C'mon, 'Disney'? I'm pretty sure you're just saying made up words to me at this point."
"Honestly, I'm offended." Helia declared. "All Disney movies are going on the homework list."
"How many are there?"
"Like, seventy? I think. Hold on." Helia pulled out a phone from her pocket. "Hey Siri!"
Remus gave her a confused look "Why are you talking to a phone?"
"Shhhh, child." Helia indicated that he should shut up with a wave of her hand. "Siri! How many Disney movies are there?"
There was a minute before an automated voice replied "There are at least one hundred and forty seven films made under the name of Disney."
"Chillbeans. Thanks, Siri. Love you, Boo."
"It is a pleasure to be of service, Mrs McAwesome."
Remus felt his eyebrows crawling through his hair. "I have so many questions."
Helia looked over with a smile on her face that made any confusion instantly worth it. "Oh, you can set it so it calls you by whatever name you want."
"And you went with Mrs McAwesome?" Remus couldn't help but ask. Helia shrugged. Yet another thing he would have to let go. "Okay, fine. But chillbeans ?"
Helia grinned sheepishly. "Lin started saying it and, as it turns out, it's oddly addicting." she snorted "And people say I'm the bad influence in that friendship."
"Also, one hundred and forty seven films? " Remus said incredulously "You can't seriously expect me to watch all of them."
"Of course I don't." Helia said "You can skip a few."
"A few? There's already a good fifty on the list for me to watch."
Helia poked his shoulder. "Don't exaggerate. And having a hobby other than turning into a bloodthirsty furball once a month is beneficial. Especially since- all going well- we'll break that habit soon enough."
"I still can't believe that's happening." Remus said. "I honestly didn't believe you when you said you were going to make turning into a werewolf easier on the train."
"Doesn't sound like a lot's changed then." Helia observed.
Remus looked at her with deathly seriousness."Everything has changed."
"Hold on." A smile was tugging at the corners of Helia's mouth. "We don't know if it works yet."
Remus continued to look at her. "It doesn't matter."