Spells and Handcuffs (Remus Lupin)

Disclosures

The morning passed calmly, the shame of the night before evaporating slightly. Remus showed no sign of upset about our initial meeting. Chatting with him was an extremely pleasant experience - one verbal dancе that makes me laugh out loud and feel my heart switching on. I had forgotten my promise to myself that I no longer wanted to meet Remus Lupin. On the contrary, I  wanted to spend as much time as possible in his company. Our conversation was banter, I guess, but it revived me and restored the mood in the house.  I hadn't seen my uncle like that recently. He didn't like to be locked up somewhere, given that he had been in Azkaban for 12 years. Ever since we came to London, he has been usually sullen and grumpy. But today he was different.

"I'm going to see Buckbeak. And Kreacher is pretty quiet this morning, which is pretty questionable. " Sirius rose from the table as he turned to me. "Ash, will you show Remus the library? He was interested in several books on dark arts. I'm sure that my family has owned them. "

I nodded and waited anxiously for my uncle to leave the room. Then I turned to Remus. "Thank you for not telling him anything about this morning. I'm not usually so reckless, but I haven't been out in a long time. Not that this is an excuse. I'm sorry. "

"Don't worry," he replied with a smile. "I may look old to you, but I still remember what it's like to be your age. And Sirius was not a primer for decent behavior in his youth, he is obviously trying to show authority with you. "

"You don't look old to me," I said stupidly. WHAT? Again? Why doesn't my mouth keep blabbering like that in front of this man?

He smiled wider and scratched the back of his neck. That smile was the prettiest thing I've seen in a while, for it extends to my eyes and deep into my soul. 

"I'll show you the library." I tried to escape the awkward situation and to banish indecent thoughts that went through my head at the moment ."Why are you interested in books about the Dark arts?

"In general, I am interested in the defense against the dark arts, but I can't be good at practicing if I don't know the subject I'm fighting against. "He explained as we climbed the stairs.

It was nice to keep up with him. The staircase was not very wide, and often my shoulder touched his arm, just above his elbow. Merlin, how tall he was. 

We entered the library, which was located on the top floor. The room was quite large with bookshelves from top to bottom. Dust collected everywhere as far as I could see, spider webs wove loosely around books, dirtied shelves, and stands, busted lamps hung from weathers. The ground was littered with dirt, glass, books, and torn paper. There were several skylights through which a lot of sunlight entered. At the bottom opposite the door was a wide window with a large sofa at the front. There was a view of the roofs of buildings in this part of London. I tried to clean up a little bit with my wand.

"That's it. If you're looking for a specific title, I can help you find it. I warn you that most of the books here are about dark arts, purebloods, and ... some are with tortures in it, like this one..." - and I threw him one, which I have seen at the top of a pile of books. On the cover was an erased image of a woman with something like a ball in her mouth and she was wrapped in straps.

Remus stared at the book I handed him. For a moment a slight shock appeared on his face, leafed through, and coughed softly: "I don't think it's for tortures. Depends on the point of view, of course." Then he turned it to me to see the title better.

My eyes widened as I read it. 666 kinky spells to satisfy your witch with the help of straps.

How naive and stupid I was. For a split second, it occurred to me to flee the room in shame. But then I decided to ease the tension by saying, "Obviously Sirius' parents weren't so boring after all."