| back to black | {g. weasley}

[ twenty-eight ]

She knocks on the door for the millionth time this year, the action feeling so natural yet so hesitant as she knows it's the last time.

"Come in," he calls from inside.

She releases a breath she wasn't aware she was holding and pushes the heavy door opened only as far as she need to slip in.

As she steps inside, there's a sense of uncertainty. The air was colder, the walls were emptied, his things were packed in the corner, and it all just felt... very dull and detached.

He turns from his case set on top of a window sill and a soft smile pulls at his lips once he sees her. "Evelyn..."

She gives him a saddened grin. "Hi... erm— Harry told me you wanted to see me."

He nods. "I did— I do." He clears his throat and he gestures to his desk. Evelyn takes a seat, smoothing over her skirt as she crosses her ankles. "I feel like... you deserve some answers," he explains. "Maybe some your father didn't quite get to answer in what short time you got with him a few nights ago—"

"Why didn't you tell me?" She asks immediately. "Why couldn't you have just... said it there, the first time I ever came to you after class."

He looks down at the toes of his loafers, his hands folded behind his back as he sighs out a knowing breath. He knew that was coming first, the weight of holding it in the whole year damn near drowning him.

"When your father went to Azkaban," he begins, "and your uncle and grandfather passed... I helped your mother move you and her out of the Wizarding World. She then asked that I stay... aloof from your life." He looks at her with such a sorrowed gaze, everything in his expression almost begging for forgiveness that he doesn't need, not even realizing it wasn't his fault. "She asked, after I'd told her that I'd gotten this job, that I keep my role in your life to myself."

"So she kept me from my own God Father?" Evelyn asks. "She left you, the only chance of a real father figure I ever had, out of my life?"

Lupin tilts his head. "Don't look at it like that," he tells her. "She just wanted to keep you from anything bad, she didn't want anything to hurt you, and this year with the escape, none of us having known about Peter's scheme, she just didn't want you getting into anything dangerous." He leans his back against the trunk just feet from Evelyn and rubs the bridge of his nose almost in frustration. "You-Know-Who's reign in the war took too much from her, the last thing she needed taken away was you."

Evelyn folds her lips in on one another and glances down at her black docs.

"Evelyn," Lupin pulls her eyes back up to his. "I need you to know that I missed you. Very very much." He tries for a smile, only for it to go crossing his expression in a painful manner. "Your father is my best friend. I care for him very deeply and I care for you just as much... even though your mum asked me to keep my distance, she still sent me all kinds of pictures and letters and updates—" He stands from the trunk and walks back over to a bag sitting under the window, a buff, leather synch bag, and he kneels down to open it.