Thicker than Water (Marauders Era) PART II

31 July, 1996 - Birthday

The last full week of July passed relatively uneventfully for Lavinia, something she was more than grateful for. What she was less pleased about was the unfortunate new normal that meant a week with two deaths in the ward and four cases of shoddy Imperius curses that resulted in multiple injuries to the healing staff was now 'uneventful.' But it was. Because by comparison, little had happened that week. Of the deaths in the ward, only one was actually due to an encounter with Death Eaters and the man in question was an elderly wizard whose passing went unreported other than a small obituary in the papers. Apparently, even if they were now acknowledging and preparing for the war, the Ministry still didn't want to risk panicking people with the severity of it. Imperius curses were becoming all too common as well as that one such case had managed to land a solid few blows before Lavinia and Elias had managed to knock him out was hardly worth getting flustered over. Lavinia had long since stopped seeing her mother's face attached to the fists that had flung so wildly in her direction thanks to these patients.

So it was that when Lavinia received an invitation to tea at the Weasleys' for Harry's birthday party, she thought only momentarily about the reality that it probably wasn't the best plan to gather people all in one place before she decided that she was, of course, going. This would be the first of Harry's birthdays that Lavinia would have the chance to properly celebrate and she wasn't going to miss the opportunity. Even if it was a bit of a risky proposition to be gathering everyone together.

It should have been a purely happy occasion. And it might have been were it not for the reality that Remus wasn't home yet. He had gone off to try to persuade the werewolves despite Lavinia and Tonks's protests and from what Lavinia had gathered, her friend's discussion with the latter had turned into a full blown argument that had resulted in Remus not speaking another word to the woman until their departure. Lavinia had done her best to console Tonks when she'd shown up at the door, but there was really only so much to say. After all, this sort of thing, the running off into danger, the utter conviction in Dumbledore's beliefs and cause... she had these exact quarrels with Sirius a million times before and she had never once changed his mind.

And of course, beyond that, Lavinia rather thought Tonks had a point and that Remus was so eager to do this in part because he wanted to keep his distance from Tonks because though they had talked and made up and seemed to be in some rocky in between place between friends and more, Lavinia knew that Remus still wasn't entirely comfortable with it. So he was running. And Lavinia finally understood why her own tendency to do so had so aggravated her friends for so long. Because if he had just stood to face it, just had an honest conversation and given this thing a chance... well he might have saved that much more pain for himself and Tonks.

And Lavinia.

Because though she knew it was none of her business, Lavinia couldn't help but feel slightly involved. Remus was her friend and she hated to see him hurt. And, though she knew it was in no way his intent and there was even a good chance it hadn't so much as occurred to him, his running off on Dumbledore's errands hurt her too.

It was so like last time, after all. The empty house. The dark and echoing rooms and the paper sitting unopened on the coffee table, the headline inevitably some new bad news. And in the middle of it all, Lavinia sat. Waiting. Waiting for him to come home. Waiting to hear the knock on the door that she dreaded. Endlessly waiting.

And the night before Harry's birthday she had waited into the wee hours of the morning, her stress building by the minute, her hands fidgeting with her sleeves and then with a bit of thread she had dug out of an old sewing basket in her room. Because he was supposed to come home that night. And he hadn't.

Which was why Lavinia got dressed on the morning on her godson's birthday with her limbs weighed down by a sleepless night and the stress and fear that she knew she wouldn't manage to shake until Remus was home. Until she could see him. Touch him. And know that he was okay.