Of Honor and Angels

That afternoon had been incredible: one of the first truly calm days Remus had had since before his final exams a few weeks before.

Seonaid had read for a solid two hours before the sun had finally set behind the mountain, her sweet voice filling Remus with an inexplicable contentment, and he wished that they could have gone on like that forever, the soft breeze playing across their faces and the rustling of the willow leaves intertwining with Seonaid’s honeyed tones.

But all good things must come to an end. And so with the setting of the sun then six young witches and wizards returned to the house, where they were greeted by a surprising and much welcome scene: Remus’s mother and father, Aurora and Liget Lupin, were standing in the front entrance hall pulling on traveling cloaks over their best dress robes, clearly about to set out for the evening. Mr. Lupin looked up merrily at Remus and his friends as they entered the high-ceilinged hall.

“Ah, Remus, I was just going to come find you. Your mother and I are going out tonight.”

“Yes dear,” Mrs. Lupin said. “Your father and I are heading over to the Prewett’s place in Northumberland; their son Gideon is getting married to that lovely young woman from the Magical Reversal Squad….oh, what is her name Liget?”

“Lorelei Stuart.”

“Yes! That’s it, lovely woman. Anyway Remus, your father and I have been invited to stay overnight at the Prewett’s home if the reception runs late and we are too tired to apparate, so don’t be surprised if we’re not here in the morning we should be home by lunchtime.”

“Right mum.”

Lily stepped forward. “Thank you so much for having us Mrs. Lupin, it was so nice of you.”

“Are you leaving dear?”

“After dinner,” James chimed in, placing one hand on Lily’s shoulder. “Lily and I are going to pop over to her house for a few days so that I can meet her family, and then we are going to head over to my place to introduce her to my folks. But thank you so much for having us.”

Mrs. Lupin smiled, obviously charmed. “You will always be welcome here, all of you.”

Her husband slipped his hand under her elbow and leaned into her, saying, “We really should be going Aurora, we don’t wand to be late for the ceremony.”

“Have fun mum, dad.” Remus said.

“Be good darling!” Mrs. Lupin trilled once before turning one the spot in unison with her husband. They vanished with a crack.

Remus turned to his friends. “Well, what would you all like to do now?”

Sirius’s stomach answered first with a loud growl. Amelia giggled, “Hungry, luv?”

He grinned wolfishly and struck his stomach with the flat of his hand. “Starving.”

“Well that settles that.” Lily said. “Who wants dinner?”

Everyone pt up their hands. Lily pouted her lips thoughtfully. “Aright, here’s the real question: who here can actually cook?”

All hands went down except for Seonaid’s. The group looked at her inquisitively.

She shrugged. “My boyfriend’s sister taught me in America.”

Remus thought his heart actually stopped beating for a few seconds at the words ‘my boyfriend’. It was pure silliness, of course; why should he, Remus, feel any sort of attachment to a girl he had only spent a few hours with after not seeing for seven years? But still, that same lingering familiarity that had plagued him earlier had settle firmly in the it of his gut and some small, completely insane part of him still wished to believe that Seonaid was…was what precisely? Free? Single? Not involved with an American lover?

He shook off these depressing thoughts and flicked his eyes up to meet Seonaid’s waiting, curious gaze.

“What would you like to cook?” he asked.

She smiled. “What have you got?”

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The next thing Remus knew he was helping Amelia carry plates into the seldom used dining room off the scullery while Seonaid moved gracefully abound the kitchen causing delicious smells to waft through the house from a cauldron over the kitchen fire and a quartet of pans on the stove. All the while they were serenaded by Sirius, who had conjured an accordion into being for the purpose of churning out mournful Celtic tunes, occasionally changing the pace to something jauntier whenever James decided to join in on his highland Uilleann pipes.

Amelia and Remus finished setting the table and he followed her back to the kitchen. Sirius’s girl pranced across the circular stone room to perch herself on the counter beside her boyfriend but Remus chose to stay in the doorway and observe the inviting tableau before him.

It was wondrous to have all his friends there with him. Lily was sitting happily on the rough wooden table next to the wall with her back pressed up against the stones and James’s head in her lap. He continued to toot on his pipes occasionally from this position between bouts of delighted sighs as Lily stroked his jet-black hair. Amalia, Sirius and Seonaid were chatting happily as the newest member of their group bustled around the room, completely at ease with them.

Even the very night outside seemed to celebrating such a wonderful evening. Seonaid had performed some little enchantment to allow the fire in the hearth to burn beneath the cauldron without giving off any heat to the room. A small blessing on an usually warm summer’s night. The happy chirping of crickets floated through the open windows and just past the massive hearth a pair of slim double doors stood open onto the small stone patio. Remus could just glimpse the copse of Cottonwood trees outside, their sweet aroma adding to the ambience of the evening.

Dinner passed in a swirl of good food, good liquor, and good humor. Afterwards the six friends lounged spread out on the old sofas under the soaring ceiling of the den making half-formed jokes and many giggles.

Finally Lily, who besides Seonaid and Remus had had only a single glass of wine, pulled herself out of James’s arms and looked around apologetically at the others.

“Well, I’m sorry to say it my dears, but James and I really should be going if we want to get to my house before my parent’s lock up for the night.”

James gave an indecipherable moan and tossed a pillow at his girlfriend’s midriff, which she deflected with an easy twitch of her wand. “Now I mean it! We can come back in a few days but you promised me we would do this James.” Her voice was firm despite the playful smile that was threatening to take over her face as she gazed at her sloshed lover sprawled across an ancient divan.

Sirius rose to his feet as well, pulling a sleepy Amelia with him as he went. “Your right Lil’. Amy and I should be going too. But don’t worry Remus, we will all be back soon to mooch of you hospitality.”

Remus laughed.

Goodbyes were exchanged in the front entryway as light summer cloaks were pulled on and a quickly conjured antidote for hangovers was forced into James’s mouth as a preemptive strike against the morning to come. Seonaid stood beside Remus the entire time; it was rather like they were master and mistress of the great manor around them.

The three women kissed each other swiftly on the cheeks, both Lily and Amelia expressing how sorry they were to have to leave Seonaid so soon and promising to have great fun the rest of the summer.

And then suddenly Remus’s friends had apparated and he was left alone with his petite neighbor in the entrance hall. He glanced at her quickly, for the first time all night embarrassed by her presence. Never before had he been so aware of another person’s beauty.

She spoke first. “Um…well, I should probably be heading home. I expect you would like to get to bed.”

“Oh, um, yeah…unless you’d like to stay for a minute?” The words stumbled out before Remus could quite get his tongue around them, but it must have made sense to Seonaid because she smiled and took a step closer.

“I’d like that.”

The pair meandered slowly back towards the den. As they passed the open kitchen door Seonaid flicked her wand in the direction of the dirty dishes in the sink and they began to clean themselves, clinking and sloshing softly in the suddenly soapy water.

They stood in the doorway looking into the den and Remus couldn’t help noticing the small shiver that shook Seonaid’s petite body.

“Are you cold?” he asked.

“Jut a little, this room is so chilly.” She crossed her arms under her breasts as though to shield herself from the coolness that had taken hold of the large stone room.

“Here.” Remus pointed his wand at the great hearth across from them and whispered, “Incendio!” Immediately high flames sprang to life there. “Is that better?”

He looked over at his companion to see that a mischievous smile had crept across her lovely lips. “Well, that is one way we could keep warm…but I think my way might be more fun.”

And she slipped her tiny, warm hand into Remus’s much lager one and pulled him into the room, shutting the door firmly behind them.

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Hehehe! Cliffie! I usually don’t like to just end a chapter on such a large cliffhanger, but the surprise is well worth it, just you wait! Tell me what you thought.

Belle Mortre


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