To Be A Hero ↠Avengers x HP Crossover

Chapter 3- Honeycomb Cottage

Eliza Woods lived with Remus Lupin, her godfather, in a cosy cottage in Yorkshire. He had asked Eliza if she wanted to move in with him all the way back at the end of her third year as he finally had a steady income, but that plan was quickly squashed after Snape had decided to "accidentally" let it slip to the entire Slytherin house that their beloved DADA professor was in fact a werewolf. The news reveal was followed by a mass of howlers and angry letters from Ministry Officials and angry, pure-blood parents.

Lupin was forced to quit his teaching job meaning he could no longer take Eliza in as he no longer had a steady job, especially not after Dolores Umbridge passed the anti-werewolf legislation making it almost impossible for a werewolf to get a job. However, after the war and after Kingsley had become the Minister Of Magic, the legislation had been repealed in an effort to reform the Ministry. Lupin had also been given the Order of Merlin, First Class (the first werewolf ever being awarded this honour) for his valiance in the Second Wizarding War. Using the money from the award, Lupin was finally able to move out of his tumbledown house in London and instead bought a small cottage in Yorkshire. Once again, he invited Eliza to stay with him, and she readily agreed. He had extended his offer to Harry. He was, after all, his honorary uncle, but Harry had politely declined, saying he still had Sirius' old place.

As Eliza stepped out of the fireplace and into the living room, she was instantly hit with a wave of a pleasant aroma. The cottage smelt of vanilla and freshly baked cookies, and sure enough, as Eliza made her way into the kitchen, there was a tray of cookies waiting for her on the counter. Next to the tray was a note written in a quick scrawl from Remus. It read:

"𝒫𝑜𝓅𝓅𝑒𝒹 𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓇 𝓉𝑜 𝒢𝓇𝒾𝓂𝓂𝒶𝓊𝓁𝒹 𝒫𝓁𝒶𝒸𝑒 𝓉𝑜 𝒽𝑒𝓁𝓅 𝐻𝒶𝓇𝓇𝓎 𝓌𝒾𝓉𝒽 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝒸𝓁𝑒𝒶𝓃𝒾𝓃𝑔. 𝒮𝒽𝑜𝓊𝓁𝒹 𝒷𝑒 𝒷𝒶𝒸𝓀 𝒾𝓃 𝓉𝒾𝓂𝑒 𝒻𝑜𝓇 𝓉𝑒𝒶,
𝐿𝑜𝓋𝑒 𝑅𝑒𝓂𝓊𝓈"

Realising she had a few hours to kill before she could tell Remus about her new job proposal, Eliza decided to make herself a steaming cup of tea and got started with some of the house chores. It hadn't taken nearly as long as she had expected, Remus still wouldn't be home for a while, so she decided to get started on their dinner. Eliza thoroughly enjoyed cooking and baking. She found it calming and almost therapeutic, and best of all, she was actually very good at it. This was a relief for Remus. It's not that he couldn't cook. He was quite good at it, really, but after work, he found he was often exhausted- especially when it got closer to the full moon.

Satisfied with her work, Eliza grabbed a chocolate chip cookie from off the counter as a pre-meal snack and settled down on the couch to go through the folders Kingsley had given her. They mainly just contained the history of MACUSA, current wizarding events in both Britain and America, and her job description. She was to attend as many events as possible in order to be seen by the important wizards in the states and to show that the Ministry is completely involved and interested in the new alliance. She also had to attend weekly meetings with the MACUSA liaison team, relay any information/news on either side provided, and try to come up with strategies that would further help create a strong relationship.

All in all, Eliza didn't think it was a bad job. It surely didn't seem stressful and wasn't too demanding either. She would get to travel to America, a country she'd never been to before, and get to meet a ton of new people. It seemed perfect. There was only one issue. Eliza didn't want to leave Remus behind. He'd been by himself for far too long, suffering through his transformations alone. She couldn't just leave him. Now that Remus was getting older, his transformations (including the build-up to his transformation and the aftermath) were getting more and more agonising, leaving him weak and achy. Since Remus was paying for some of her living expenses, she was able to afford the very costly, monthly supply of aconite that was supposed to help with the pain during the build up to the full moon. At first, Remus refused to accept such an expensive gift, but Eliza had persuaded him in the end by reminding him about all that he had done for her. She had also told him that it was non-returnable, so he may as well use it, or it would all go to waste. In hindsight, that might have been the real reason why. Aconite was extremely difficult to come by, but Neville had somehow known how to get a hold of some. She didn't ask how she presumed it had something to do with his herbology connections, but she definitely owed him one. It wasn't working as well as Eliza had hoped, Remus still appeared to be in extreme discomfort. However, Remus had assured her it was indeed helping to release some of the pain. She just wished someone would come up with some sort of cure already, or at least a more accessible and affordable pain reliever. The issue was there was still so much stigma around werewolves that no one seemed willing to work on something that had any connections to the beasts. The anti-werewolf legislation had been demolished some time ago, but it was a slow process trying to get people to change all their past views and opinions. It would be a while before werewolves were commonly accepted into society as equals.